
t 



LETTERS 

TO 

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 



THEOLOGICAL PARTS 



OF HIS 

BOOK OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 

WITH 

REMARKS ON CERTAIN WORKS OF DR.MILNER, AND DR. LINGARD, 
AND ON SOME PARTS OF THE EVIDENCE OF DR. DOYLE 
BEFORE THE TWO COMMITTEES OF THE 
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. 



BY 

REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D.D. 

RECTOR OF STANHOPE. 



SECOND EDITION. 



LONDON: 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 




LONDON: 

PRIKTED BY C. ROWORTII, BELL YARD, 
TEMPLE BAR. 



( 



TO 

THE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND 

SHUTB, 
LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 



My Lord, 

I venture, without previously 
soliciting permission, to inscribe this small 
work to your Lordship. If it fail of its 
main purpose, the fault, I am confident, is 
in the advocate, not in the cause : but, be 
this as it may, if it in any degree satisfy 
your Lordship, that the great favours 
which you have conferred on me, have 
been bestowed on a sincere and earnest, 
however humble, labourer in the ser- 



( iv ) 

vice of our Apostolic Church, the pains 
employed upon it will not have been 
thrown away. 

Let me gratify myself my bearing this 
public testimony to that zeal and ardour 
in the cause of true religion, which even 
the lapse of more than twenty years be- 
yond the ordinary age of man is unable 
to extinguish, and that watchful care for 
the welfare of your own Diocese, which it 
is my honour and my happiness every day 
to witness. 

I am, 

My Lord, 
with the truest respect and gratitude, 
Your Lordship's most dutiful 
and most obliged Servant, 

Henry Phillpotts. 

May, 1825, 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 

Introduction. — Reasons for the present publication. 
— Title of Roman Catholics page 1 

LETTER II. 

Authorities for Doctrines of the Roman Church. — 
Devotion to the Virgin Mary and other Saints 17 

LETTER III. 
Relics. — Images. — The Cross 62 

LETTER IV. 
Dr. Lingard. — His unfaithfulness in quotation . 101 

LETTER V. 

Of Purgatory. — Doctrine of the Council of Trent. — 
Trent Catechism. — Council of Florence. — Bellar- 
mine. — Histories respecting Purgatory . . .113 

LETTER VI. 

Mr. Butler's Statement of the means of relieving those 
who are detained in Purgatory. — His citation from 
Augustine on this subject. — Dr. Milner's citations 
from Augustine. — Mr. Butler's from Calvin . 132 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER VII. 

Means of relieving those who are confined in Pur- 
gatory stated in the Decree and the Catechism of 



the Council of Trent 150 

LETTER VIII. 
Indulgences 158 

LETTER IX. 

Confession and Absolution in the Church of Rome. — 
Statement of Doctrine and Practice of the Church 
of England on these points . . . . . . .196 

LETTER X. 



On the supposed legal necessity of a Minister of the 
Church of England giving evidence in a Court of 
Justice of what has been confided to him in Con- 



fession 223 

LETTER XI. 
Augustine and Pelagius 229 

LETTER XII. 

Transubstantiation. — Real Presence as maintained by 
the Church of England. — Test Act. — Adoration of 
the Host 231 

LETTER XIII. 

Archbishop Wake. — Attacks of Dr. Milner on other 
English Prelates. — Mr. Butler's Charge on the 
Clergy of our Church 259 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



LETTER XIV. 
The power of the Pope 271 

LETTER XV. 

Conclusion. — Revival of Jesuits and the Inquisition. 
— Reasonable Fears of the Church of Ireland. — 
Pastorini's Prophesies. — Parting Address to Mr. 
Butler 308 

Note to page 54 329 



APPENDIX. 

Letter to the Right Hon. Earl Grey, occasioned by 
his Lordship's Speech in the House of Lords on 
moving the Second Reading of his Bill for abrogating 
the Declarations contained in the 25th and 30th of 
Charles II., commonly called " The Test against 
Popery." 331 



TO 

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 



LETTER I. 

Introduction. — Reasons for the present publication. — 
Title of Roman-Catholics. 

Sir, 

I have read your " Book of the Roman- 
Catholic Church and in common, I conceive, 
with all your Readers, have been much gratified 
with the tone and temper in which it is written. 
If, in one or two instances, your zeal has made 
you, for a while, forget your charity, yet your 
politeness is always unimpaired; and you never 
appear to be more in your natural character, 
than in smoothing the asperities of controversy, 
and deprecating its violence. It has, indeed, 
been suggested by some of your Critics, that 
you have no objection to see your cause sup- 
ported by others, in language which you would 
yourself be ashamed to use : and they appeal, 

B 



2 



1XTR0DUCTI0X. 



for the justice of this suspicion, to your strog 
recommendation of a work, from which every 
moderate person of every party turns with dis- 
gust, I mean " Strictures on the Poet Laureates 
Book," written, as you tell us, by Dr. Milner. 

I am not disposed to regard this matter so 
seriously; but look upon it rather as a very 
pardonable instance of the veneration you are 
accustomed to pay even to the foibles of an 
Apostolic Vicar. That dignitary, it seems, oc- 
casionally amuses himself with appearing in 
Masquerade ; literally appearing, — for, though 
he wears a Masque, he writes upon it his own 
name, under the ingenious anagram of John 
Merlin: and, in the person of that old Deceiver, 
scruples not to indulge in certain licenses of 
language, which decorum would forbid him to 
adopt in his proper character. As, however, I 
have no inclination to. join in his revels, I shall 
not waste time in descanting on them. But on 
another work of the same author, for my know- 
ledge of the existence of which I am likewise 
indebted to your Book,— I mean the " End of 
Controversy," — I shall have frequent occasion 
to remark in the course of these pages. Mean- 
while, I hope I shall remember, during the 
whole of my address to you, that in courtesy 
at least, you have set an example, which it will 



INTRODUCTION. 



3 



be discreditable to any, who may engage in the 
same controversy, to omit to imitate. Although, 
therefore, I may find it difficult, perhaps im- 
possible, to say all that I think necessary on 
several of the topics of these letters, without in 
some degree wounding your feelings ; yet I am 
desirous, in the outset, to assure you, that what- 
ever I may think of your opinions, whatever I 
may be compelled to say of some parts of the 
statement of those opinions, I would not inten- 
tionally fail in any portion of that respect, which 
is due to you as a Scholar, a Gentleman, and, 
I would willingly hope, a sincere Christian. 

To much the larger part of your Book, how- 
ever, the historical matters on which you are at 
. issue with Mr. Southey, I shall say nothing. 
That controversy is already in hands which 
will do it ample justice, nor will I weaken the 
effect of Mr. Southey's powerful eloquence in 
vindicating his own statements, by obtruding 
any feeble efforts of mine. The only purpose 
for which I have taken up my pen, is to say 
something on the theological part of your sub- 
ject, especially on what is contained in your 
10th Letter, entitled " View of the Roman- 
Catholic System." 

I enter on this discussion, however, not with 
any intention of renewing the controversy on 

b 2 



4 



REASONS FOR 



the merits of our respective creeds; but merely 
to correct what appears to me to be a very er- 
roneous statement, in some respects, of the doc- 
trines of my own Church, but in a much greater 
degree of those of the Church of Rome. This 
is become the more necessary from the in- 
creasing prevalence, even in quarters where we 
might hope to find more accurate information, 
of an opinion, that the line, which separates 
the two Churches, is in fact much less strongly 
marked, than the prejudices and the passions 
of our Predecessors have taught us to believe. 

That Members of your Communion should 
labour to encourage this notion, is not at all 
surprising. No mode of drawing Proselytes to 
the Roman-Church has been found so effectual, 
as that of persuading the incautious Protestant, 
that the change to which he is invited, — the 
departure from early convictions on the most 
important of all subjects,— is far less extensive, 
than he has been accustomed to regard it. 
You yourself, Sir, speak* of a " near approxi- 
mation in our religious creeds." And certainly 
this is at the present day a much less paradoxical 
position, than it would have been deemed a few 
generations ago. For in this protestant conn- 



* Page 3. 



THE PRESENT PUBLICATION. 



•J 



try, many of the most revolting dogmas of 
Rome have been so much modified by collision 
with the tenets of the Reformed Church, so 
much reduced or palliated by the policy of 
your advocates, that the real state of religious 
opinion and practice among you here, is widely 
different from that which is exhibited in coun- 
tries where similar causes do not operate, and 
where the Roman Creed has been permitted to 
produce its full effect. 

Hence it will probably happen, that I shall 
be reproached with undertaking the ungracious 
office of reviving the memory of past differences, 
and seeking to exasperate the feelings of our 
contemporaries by an appeal to those grounds 
of discord, which are now, even by yourselves, 
tacitly abandoned. Such, however, is not the 
object of these pages. I am actuated, I hope, 
only by a wish to perform some part of the duty 
which I owe to that " pure and reformed part" 
of the Christian Church, of which I am a Minis- 
ter. It surely cannot be necessary for a Cler- 
gyman of the Church of England to apologize, 
at any time, for bringing forward the real 
grounds, on which his Church found itself com- 
pelled to separate from the Church of Rome. 
This is not, be it remembered, nor can it ever 
be, one of those cases, in which silence and 



6 



REASONS FOR 



compromise are consistent with good faith, and 
may therefore be demanded by charity. No ! 
this, if any, is a vital question. For, if the dif- 
ferences between the two Churches be, indeed, 
as slight, as you and others would represent 
them, the plain consequence must be, (and you, 
at least, will not deny it,) that our separation 
from you was, and is, schismatical ; that the 
Fathers and Martyrs of the Reformation were 
not only in error, but in sin ; that they have 
propagated that sin to us their descendants ; 
and that we cannot too soon retrace our steps, 
and sue to be re-admitted into the bosom of 
your Church. 

It is plain, therefore, that the Ministers of the 
Church of England must not, and can not, per- 
mit it to be believed, that any approximation 
to the real doctrines of the Church of Rome is 
regarded by them as even possible. Be we, in 
charity, and mutual forbearance, as conciliating 
as you will: — too charitable, and too forbearing 
in things indifferent, we cannot be : — still we 
must not dissemble, that " between us and you 
there is a great gulph fixed ;•' wbich may indeed 
be passed from either side to the other, — but 
which admits not of any true resting-place 
being found between them. 

But there is another reason, more peculiarly 



THE PRESENT PUBLICATION. 



7 



belonging to the times in which we live, for this 
eagerness to represent the creeds of the two 
Churches as similar as possible; — I allude to 
the great political object, which engages all 
your hopes, and calls forth all the skill and 
ingenuity of your advocates. It is concluded, 
reasonably enough, that no better expedient, 
than this, can be adopted, to reconcile the 
minds of Englishmen to the removal of the re- 
maining political restrictions under which you 
labour. Hence, again, a publication, like the 
present, issuing from the press at this particular 
period, will probably be attributed to the op- 
posite wish of seeing those restrictions strength- 
ened and perpetuated. But here, too, I think 
it proper to declare, that such is very far from 
being the motive of my present undertaking. 
Not that, if it were, I should feel it in any 
respect a discreditable motive, or one which 
would need to be defended. For, while so 
much is written, and said, on both sides of the 
question, what harm could there be in choosing 
this particular line of argument, be it convincing 
or otherwise, to vindicate the reasonableness 
and the justice of the existing Laws? 

But such, I repeat, is not my purpose. If 
the time of this publication may seem to argue 
the contrary, let me remind you that this time 



8 



REASONS FOR 



is not of my choosing, but of yours. At any 
period, and under any circumstances, I should 
have judged it right to expose so important a 
mis-statement, as I consider yours to be: — and 
I am not prevented from so doing by an appre- 
hension, that I may be thought desirous of 
supporting one side of a great political question 
by the indirect influence of a theological argu- 
ment. To say the truth, the connection of the 
political and theological questions does not ap- 
pear to me so absolutely inseparable, as many 
wiser men than myself continue to regard it. 
But, at any rate, you, and those who act with 
you, have not a shadow of right to complain on 
this ground. You have sought to strengthen 
your political cause by mixing with it a state- 
ment of the theological dogmas of your Church. 
Now, let those dogmas be truly stated, (and 
the truth, when disputed, can only be ascer- 
tained by evidence and argument,) and then 
let their final bearing on the political question 
be that, and only that, which truth shall war- 
rant. 

But, whatever be the cause, the effect is no- 
torious. It is become an usual topic in all popu- 
lar discourses, written or spoken, on behalf of 
Roman-Catholics, in the journals of criticism 
(so called), and even in the speeches delivered in 



THE PRESENT PUBLICATION. 



parliament, to represent the creed and the dis- 
cipline of the Church of Rome as nearly in ac- 
cordance with those of the established church. 
The most signal instance of this kind was 
afforded in a debate in the House of Lords, on 
the 10th of June, 1819, on which occasion I pre- 
sumed to address to the noble Earl, who led the 
debate, and distinguished himself by the theo- 
logical arguments of his speech, a letter, which 
is now appended to these pages. In truth, some 
passages of your " Book," and of his Lordship's 
speech, have a remarkable resemblance, espe- 
cially in their apparent reliance, for the accu- 
racy of the principal statements contained in 
them, on the same reverend authority, that of 
Dr. Milner. His " End of Controversy" is the 
grand storehouse, from which a main portion of 
the facts and evidence, adduced both by your- 
self and by the noble Earl, appears to have been 
drawn; and a nice observer might, perhaps, 
without much difficulty, select some six pages 
of this work, in which all the theological learn- 
ing displayed in that memorable debate would 
be found to be comprised. 

In short, so much of management has been 
successfully employed to distort or disguise the 
truth, that it is no longer a superfluous task to 
revive in the members of our own church a re- 



10 



TITLE OF 



collection of the real nature of those tenets, 
from which our forefathers, at the Reformation, 
were enabled, by God's blessing, to rescue 
themselves and their descendants. 

It is, Sir, with this purpose that I have under- 
taken to examine your " View of the Roman- 
Catholic System." But before I commence that 
examination, permit me to say a few words on 
the reason assigned by you for giving it this 
name. Mr. Southey, in the chapter to which 
your 10th Letter is an answer, had called it the 
Papal system. But you tell us that " the words 
" popery, papal, and papist" (the only names by 
which your religion, and those who profess it, 
were known to the law of the land till a very 
recent period) " being particularly offensive to 
** Roman-Catholics, you have altered the title 
M of Mr. Southey's chapter, by substituting 
" the word 6 Roman-Catholic ' for the word 
" 'Papal': — that in the oath which the legisla- 
" ture has prescribed to you, you are styled 
" Roman-Catholics: — and that on this account 
" it has always been a rule with you to denote, 
" in- your publications, the religious denomina- 
" tion of Christians to which you belong, by 
" the appellation of Roman-Catholics."* 



* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 39. 



ROMAX-CA T II 0LICS. 



II 



To the wish implied in this alteration of 
yours I am very ready to accede. Indeed, in 
common with most, or all, of my Protestant 
brethren, I am accustomed, in the courtesy of 
private society, to give to persons of your com- 
munion the appellation which you suggest. You 
will pardon me, however, if I accompany my 
present adoption of it, before the public, with 
an explanation of* the sense in which alone it 
ought, I conceive, always to be understood. 
The caution is not unnecessary ; for our courtesy, 
in this particular, has been perverted into a 
standing argument against us. Among others, 
Dr. Milner, in his " End of Controversy," thus 
avails himself of it. Speaking of " Catholicity" 
as his " third mark of the true church," " Is 
there not," says he, " among the rival churches, 
one exclusively known and distinguished by the 
name and title of The Catholic Church, as 
well in England, Holland, and other countries 
which protest against this church, as in those 
which adhere to it ? Does rot this effulgent 
mark of the true religion so incontestably be- 
long to us, in spite of every effort to obscure it 
by the nicknames of Papists, Romanists, &c, 
that the rule of St. Cyril and St. Augustin is as 
good and certain now as it was in their times ? 
What I mean is this: if any stranger in London. 



12 



TITLE OF 



Edinburgh or Amsterdam, were to ask his way 
to the Catholic Chapel, I would risk my life for 
it, that no sober Protestant inhabitant would 
direct him to any other place of worship than 
to ours."* 

Before I refer to the main point contended for 
in this passage, I must notice, by the way, a 
little artifice of the reverend writer, in insinu- 
ating as the reason of our being called Protest- 
ants, that we " protest against the Catholic 
church." Dr. Milner knows perfectly well that 
we owe that appellation to a very different 
cause :j" he knows that neither we nor our pre- 
decessors ever " protested against the Catholic 
church," nor even against that church which 
assumes to itself exclusively the title of Catho- 
lic. Against the latter, indeed, we have gone 
a good deal further than protesting. But this 
by the way. 

On the main point here contended for by Dr. 
Milner, I answer by admitting the fact which 
he says " he means;" and I ascribe it, without 
hesitation, to the courtesy, the forbearance, and, 

* End of Controversy, p. 192. 

*f The name of Protestants was adopted because of the pro- 
testation made by certain princes of the German Empire, who 
asserted the rights of religious liberty against the decree of the 
Diet of Spire, A.D. 1529. 



R O M A X - C ATH OLICS . 



13 



in part, the carelessness, of Protestants, who 
unwilling to fight about a name have at length 
acquiesced in an assumption which ought, per- 
haps, to have been always strenuously resisted. 
I have already said that the law of the land 
gave you and your religion a very different 
name till the year 1791, when, for the first time, 
it called you Roman-Catholics. Nay, so little 
was your exclusive assumption of the title of 
Catholics then admitted, that you were afraid of 
so calling yourselves in your petition to parlia- 
ment lest your petition should on that account 
be refused admission. You therefore were desig- 
nated by your own committee as " Protesting 
Catholic Dissenters." Be this, however, as you 
will, your chapels may still, for ought I care, re- 
tain the name. But for the assertion, that your 
Church is in this country " exclusively known 
and distinguished by the name and title of The 
Catholic Church," I can only admire the 
hardihood of the person who has thought fit to 
make it. I appeal to my protestant readers, 
whether they are in the habit of hearing the 
Roman church so distinguished by any of their 
Protestant brethren. That by protesting against 
" offensive appellations," deprecating the use of 
" nicknames," (as your more appropriate de- 
nominations are called by Dr. Milner and 



14 



TITLE OF 



others,) you have succeeded in obtaining for 
yourselves, ordinarily the title of Horn an- Ca- 
tholics, often that of Catholics simply, I admit, 
and for the unfair advantage taken of the con- 
cession I sincerely lament. But the abuse has 
not yet extended so far — we have not yet so 
utterly forgotten the creed which we every day 
recite, — as to give this title to your church ; that 
is still, even in common parlance, the Church of 
Rome ; and really, if Dr. Milner has any mo- 
desty, he ought to be somewhat more than con- 
tent with such an appellation, given to it by 
Protestants ; for he must be aware that, on our 
principles, it is much more manifest that yours 
is not the Catholic church, than it is easy to 
prove that you are, in any legitimate sense, a 
church at all. Many of the wisest and most 
pious Protestants have denied, in toto, your 
claim to that title ; and the most that any of us 
can concede, is, that you are still a branch, 
though a most tremendously corrupt branch, of 
the Catholic church. 

This is not a topic on which it is at all my 
wish to enlarge ; but the boldness of the as- 
sumptions of Dr. Milner, and others of your 
writers, respecting " Catholicity," as they are 
pleased to call it, and the want of clear notions 
on the subject, which too commonly prevails, 



ROM AX-CAT II O LICS. 



15 



must be my excuse for stating some considera- 
tions, which to yourself, and to those who have 
ever studied the point, may justly appear trite 
and common-place. 

Our judgment then of the Catholic Church 
is briefly this : That Catholic Church (as the 
name, you know, expresses) is the Universal 
Church, containing within it many particular 
Churches, even all congregations which retain 
" the faith once delivered to the saints/' and 
contained in the canonical books of the Old 
and New Testaments. Every particular Church, 
which holds the fundamental points of that 
faith, and " in which the sacraments are duly 
administered according to Christ's ordinance 
in all things necessary to the same,"* is a 
branch of the Catholic, or Universal Church. 
Even if it have introduced the most dangerous 
corruptions of doctrine and of worship, yet 
if it still hold the foundation, still agree in 
essentials, it is not wholly cut off. Those 
among us, who think, as at the present day 
most members of the Church of England re- 
joice to think, that the corruptions in your com- 
munion, grievous as they are, do not amount 
to a departure from the foundation, to an utter 



* XlXth Article of the Church of England. 



16 



K0.UAN-CATH0L1CS. 



abandonment of essentials ; all such recognize 
your Church as still a part, though I am com- 
pelled to repeat, a most corrupt part, of the 
Catholic Church. The phrase, Roman-Catholics, 
therefore, may be tolerated, both as recognizing 
the distinction of particular branches, and as 
especially distinguishing members of the Ro- 
man branch of the Catholic Church; just as 
English-Catholics might be a fit denomination, 
if it were necessary to adopt it, of members of 
the Church of England. Beyond this, cour- 
tesy itself must not induce us to go. We must 
protest against that sense of the phrase, which 
implies that they only are Catholics, who 
M believe the Bishop of Rome to be the head 
" of the Catholic Church, and that for that 
" reason the Catholic Church may fitly be 
" styled Roman-Catholic, being an universal 
t( body united under one visible head." 



( 17 ) 



LETTER II. 

Authorities for Doctrines of the Roman Church. — De- 
votion to the Virgin Mary and other Saints. 

From the title of your system, I proceed to 
the system itself. 

But first, it is necessary to remark on what 
you say of the authorities on which you wish 
that the doctrines of your Church should be 
taken. You require that the following rule be 
rigidly observed: " That no doctrine should be 
" ascribed to the Roman-Catholics as a body, 
" except such as is an article of their faith;"* 
and you give the creed published by Pius IV. 
as " an accurate and explicit summary of the 
" Roman-Catholic Faith." | Since, however, 
several of the articles of that creed are '< ex- 
pressed in general terms,"^ you admit that it is 
necessary to look elsewhere for an explanation 
of the sense in which these articles are to be 
understood : and you particularly refer to the 
** Catechism of the Council of Trent," as an 

* Book of the Roman -Catholic Church, p. 9. 
f lb. p. 5. % lb. p. 8. 

C 



18 



AUTHORITIES FOR DOCTRINES 



authoritative publication of your Church. You 
also mention some other works, which, how- 
ever, cannot be received as of equal authority ; 
such are Bossuet's " Exposition of Faith;" 
Mr. Gother's (i Papist misrepresented and re- 
presented ;" Dr. Chaloner's " Three short 
summaries of Catholic Faith and Doctrine," 
and his " Garden of the Soul."* But, above 
all, you recommend to us Dr. Milner's " End of 
Controversy," as " the ablest exposition of the 
" doctrines of the Roman-Catholic Church, 
" on the articles contested with her by Protes- 
" tants ; and the ablest statement of the proofs 
" by which they are supported, and of the his- 
" torical facts with which they are connected, 
" that has appeared in our language."! This is 
high commendation, and will fully justify the 
particular attention I shall feel it my duty to 
pay to this writer in the sequel. But, mean- 
while, I must object to all these works, except 
the Trent Catechism, as of insufficient autho- 
rity, on which to pronounce what is the doc- 
trine of the Church. That they contain your 
own particular creed, after the declaration made 
by you, cannot be doubted : we might look to 
them, therefore, with entire satisfaction, in any 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 10. 
t lb. p. 192. 



OF THE ROM AX CHURCH. 



19 



enquiry respecting the religious tenets, for which 
you are individually answerable. But I need 
not remind you that our real question is respect- 
ing the doctrines speculative and practical, 
which are to be ascribed to your Church; such, 
in short, as may fairly be considered as making 
up its System. 

And here I must protest against being tied 
down to a consideration of those doctrines only, 
which are now delivered as articles of faith. 
These alone, it may be, are to be ascribed, as 
a matter of course, to you, and every one else 
who adheres to the communion of your Church; 
but the Church itself is answerable for all those 
doctrines, which having been promulgated by 
high authorities within it, by popes or councils, 
or writers under the immediate direction of 
such authorities, and having been long and ex- 
tensively acted upon, are still undisclaimed, 
much more those which are still retained with 
favour at Rome. Let me not be misunderstood. 
I fully admit that, in general, a full and plain 
disclaimer of such doctrines by individuals 
may fairly be considered in relation to those 
individuals, the same as if the doctrines them- 
selves had never been maintained. But they 
must, I contend, still be regarded as forming a 
part (though not equally with articles of faith 

c2 



20 



DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS 



a prominent part) of the system of the Church 
of Rome, so long as they are cherished or re- 
tained at the seat of government, and by the 
highest authorities of that Church. 

Still, it is my purpose, and I will not inten- 
tionally depart from it, to confine myself to 
such authorities, as cannot, I think, on any fair 
ground be objected to, and such as, I expect, 
you will not yourself venture to reject : the 
Boman Breviary, for instance, " restored ac- 
" cording to the decree of the Council of Trent, 
" and published by command of Pius V." pos- 
sessing, therefore, exactly the same authority 
as the catechism of the same council, set forth 
by the same pope,— the acts of other general 
councils, the bulls of popes, and the works of 
writers, to whom you yourself, or your own ad- 
mitted authorities, expressly refer. I shall also 
not scruple to cite one or two other authors of 
high reputation, not for the purpose of making 
your Church responsible for the tenets held by 
them, but as witnesses of the fact that certain 
tenets were held at the time they wrote. 

Having premised thus much, I proceed to 
follow you in your own order. 

The first particular, on which you undertake 
to state the doctrine of your Church, is " De- 
(< votion to the Virgin Mary, the Saints ; -re- 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



21 



" spect to the Cross, and to the Relics of the 
" Saints." # 

I shall beg leave to divide this particular into 
two, making the "devotion to the Virgin Mary 
" and the Saints," the subject of my present 
letter, and reserving " the cross, relics, and 
* images," for that which will next follow. 

On " devotion to the Virgin Mary and the 
" Saints," you first give us a quotation from 
the council of Trent, and from the catechism 
published in pursuance of its decrees, and then 
cite other more popular works conformed to 
the same authorities. 

The following is your statement of the doc- 
trine of the council. 

" The Saints, reigning with Christ, offer up 
" their prayers to God for man. It is a good 
" and useful supplication to invoke them," 
(surely, Sir, this is not quite an adequate trans- 
lation of bonum atque utile esse supplicitbr eos 
invocare, it is good and useful suppliant ly to in- 
voke them,) " and to have recourse t- to their 
" prayers, help, and assistance, to obtain fa- 
" vour from God, through his son Jesus Christ 
" our Lord, above, who is our Redeemer and 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 1 00. 
f Confugere. 



22 



DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS 



" Saviour."* " This," you say, "is the decree 
" of the council of Trent." 

Now from this the natural conclusion to be 
drawn (it has, in fact, been drawnf) is, that 
your Church gives to its members only a re- 
commendation, not an express command, "sup- 
" pliantly to invoke the Virgin and the Saints." 
I can discover nothing more imperative in what 
you further say on this particular, for the 
Trent catechism is cited by you only to show 
that " God and the Saints are not to be prayed 
" to in the same manner." I must, therefore, 
consider you are stating this to be all for which 
your Church is here responsible : it recommends 
its members to make this invocation. 

Dr. Milner, indeed, in his " End of Contro- 
versy, "J has been bold enough to affirm, that 
the " council of Trent barely teaches that it is 
" good and profitable to invoke the prayers of 
" the Saints;" and he adds, " hence our di- 
" vines infer, that there is no positive law of the 
" Church, incumbent on all her children, to 
" pray to the Saints." Bossuet in like manner 
declares that " the council of Trent contents 
" itself with teaching the faithful that this 



* Sess. XXV. de Invocatione Sanctorum, 
f Vid. infra | Page 252. 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



23 



" practice is good' and useful to them, without 
" saying any thing more."* 

It must be my business, therefore, to prove 
that your Church is responsible for a good deal 
more ; and I will prove it from authorities ac- 
knowledged by yourself. 

Now the very decree of the council of Trent 
from which you, and Dr. Milner, and Bossuet, 
have made the extract cited above, (which ex- 
tract you are pleased to call the Decree,) nay 
the very words, which immediately follow your 
quotation in the very same sentence, denounce 
as impious the denial of the position, " that 
" the saints enjoying eternal happiness in hea- 
" ven are to be thus invoked. "f Is this 
ie barely teaching that the practice is good and 
" profitable ?" Does this justify the inference 
" that there is no positive law of the Church, 
" incumbent on all her children to pray to the 
" saints ?" 

Again, the Creed of Pope Pius IV. to which 
you refer as " an accurate and explicit summary 
" of the Roman-Catholic faith, "J and to which 
Dr. Milner has subscribed under the sanction 

* Exposition of Faith, sect. V. 

f Sess. XXV. " Illos, qui negant sanctos, &c. invocandos 
esse, impie sentire." 

% Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, 5. 



24 



DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS 



of an Oath, declares expressly " that the Saints 
" reigning together with Christ, venerandos atque 
" invocandos esse." Is it stilt doubtful, whether 
your Church commands, or only recommends, 
the practice ? 

Let us look then to the Trent Catechism,* to 
the question and answer immediately preceding 
that, from which you have favoured us with an 
extract. " Q. Are the Saints also, reigning 
" with Christ, to be invoked ?" " A. In the 
" second place we fly to the assistance of the 
" Saints who are in heaven : to whom also that 
" prayers are to be made, is so certain in the 
" Church of God, that to pious minds no doubt on 
<( the subject can occur, which thing, &c." 

Again, in anotherf place the same Catechism 
tells us, " with good reason the holy Church 
" of God has added to this giving of thanks, 
" prayers also and imploration addressed to 
" the most holy Mother of God ; in order that 
" we thus might piously and suppliantly have 
" recourse to her to reconcile God by her in- 
" ter cession to us sinners, and to obtain for us 
" those good things which are necessary as well 

* Cat. Rom. p. 4. c. vi. q. 2. <c quibus etiam preces esse 
faciendas, ita certum est in Ecclesid Dei," &c. 
t Pars 4. c. 5. ad finem. 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



25 



"for this life? as for life eternal. Therefore we 
" exiled sons of Eve who inhabit this Vale of 
" Tears, ought constantly to invoke the mother of 
" mercy and advocate of the faithful, that she 
" may pray for us sinners, and by this prayer 
" we ought to implore help and assistance from 
" her, of whom no one without impiety and 
" nefarious wickedness can doubt, both her 
" pre-eminent merits with God, and her very 
" great willingness to assist mankind." 

Lastly in your Liturgies, your Missal, and 
other formularies, prayers to the Virgin and the 
Saints form a large portion. Is there " no law 
of your Church incumbent on her children" to 
bear a part in these devotions ? 

I think, Sir, that you will hardly venture to 
answer these enquiries in the negative. And, 
if you will not, how can you justify the state- 
ment you have made of the doctrine of your 
Church in this particular ? 

But I proceed to examine what is meant by 
the veneratio et invocatio, which your Church 
enjoins to be paid to the Virgin and the Saints, 
especially to the former. . 

That they imply much more than your modern 
apologists are ready to admit, will soon be evi- 
dent. — In the first place, it is the doctrine of 



26 



MENTAL PRAYER TO SAINTS 



the council of Trent, that the Saints possess what 
we protestants are in the habit of considering 
as one of the distinguishing attributes of God, — 
I mean, a knowledge of what passes in the hearts 
of men. For the council includes mental prayer 
in the honour to be paid to saints : it pro- 
nounces all those to be guilty of impiety, who 
hold it foolish to address mental prayer to them, 
" illos, qui asserunt stultum esse, in ccelo reg- 
" nantibus voce vel mente supplicare, impie 
" sentire."* But foolish would be a mild epi- 
thet for prayers addressed to those who are not 
privy to them. 

Another attribute apparently ascribed to 
them, to some of them at least, especially the 
Virgin Mary, is omnipresence ; or, if hot simply 
omnipresence, presence throughout the habit- 
able globe, and in every part of it at the same 
time. For, as all Christians are required to 
supplicate her, and it is difficult to conceive 
how she can receive their prayers without being- 
present to them, I know not in what manner 
the consequence can fairly be avoided. 

I am aware, indeed, that some ingenious ex- 
pedients for this purpose have been suggested. 



* Con. Trid. ib. 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



27 



For instance, that God is pleased by immediate 
revelation to inform the Virgin and the Saints, 
of every supplication addressed to them ; and 
this seems to be the solution favoured by Dr. 
Milner.* But, as you tell us, that prayers are 
offered to the Saints, only that they may offer 
prayers to God on our behalf, it follows, that 
God first reveals to them what we entreat them 
to pray to him for us, — a process which is not 
very satisfactory to men of plain understanding. 
It is told of a great man who had the misfor- 
tune of writing very illegibly, that he was in 
the habit of accompanying every letter written 
by his own hand, with a Transcript of it by his 
Secretary, in order that he might at the same 
time testify his respect, and consult for the 
convenience of his correspondent. Now this, 
which is the very reverse of the supposed mode 
of availing ourselves of the assistance of the 
Saints in our prayers, seems to be much, the 
more rational course of the two. 

But another solution of the difficulty has 
been devised : — that the Saints have their in- 
formation, not from God, but from the angels. 

* End of Controversy, p. 250. " It is sufficient for dissi- 
pating the Bishop of Durham's phantom of Blasphemy, that 
God is able to reveal to the saints the prayers of Christians who 
address them here on earth. " 



28 



DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS. 



This, however, I fear, removes the difficulty but 
a single step. For whence have the Angels a 
knowledge of our prayers ? What supports the 
Tortoise ? Accordingly, a third plan has been 
thought of: — that the Saints see in the mirror 
of the Deity all that it is his pleasure they 
should see, and among other things, the prayers 
of their supplicants. A fourth mode of explain- 
ing the matter is, the supposition of an incon- 
ceivable celerity in the locomotion of Angels 
and Saints, a celerity, which, if it be sufficient 
for its purpose, is so near akin to ubiquity, that 
it leaves us where it found us. 

I am not aware that any other expedient has 
ever been invented : and these, which I have 
recounted, are all the notions of individuals. 
As, therefore, on the one hand, your Church 
is not responsible for them ; so neither perhaps, 
on the other, can it claim for its doctrine the 
benefit of any assistance which any of them 
may be supposed to yield. That doctrine, I 
repeat, proposed as it is by the Council in all its 
nakedness, seems to ordinary understandings 
to involve the ascription of the divine attributes 
of knowledge of the hearts of men, and of om- 
nipresence, to the Saints. And this, I conceive, 
cannot but tend largely to augment the devo- 
tion of their votaries towards them. 



BASILICA. 



29 



But there are some other considerations to 
be taken into the account. Your Church is in 
the habit of dedicating sacred buildings to the 
Saints, not merely as a designation of those 
buildings, and to distinguish them from others, 
but strictly and formally to make them belong 
to those by whose name they are called. Hence 
the title of Basilica?,* royal residences; For 
while they are Churches of God, they are also 
the palaces of St. Peter, St. Paul, or others, 
because those Saints occupy them by their 
relics, which are therein deposited, f To these 
buildings very important spiritual privileges are 
annexed, in order to increase the honour of those 
to whom they are dedicated. For, pilgrimages 
to them, and the performance of divine worship 
in them, are rewarded with peculiar and very 
great advantages. But of this we shall have 
occasion to speak more particularly hereafter, 
under the head of indulgences; at present it is 
mentioned, only as an ingredient in the reli- 
gious honour paid by the Church of Rome to 
Saints, and that too, under the express sanction 
of a decree of the council of Trent. J 

* The inscription on the front of St. Peter's, which bears 
the name of Paul V. is " In honorem principis apostolorum." 
t Bellar. de Cult. Sanct. lib. iii. c. 4. 
\ Sess. xxy. * 



30 



VOWS TO THE SAINTS 



Another not unimportant particular, is that 
of Vows commonly addressed to Saints : and 
here I must beg your patience, while I dwell a 
little on this part of our subject. The greatest 
of your controversial divines, Bellarmine,* has 
judged it necessary to do so, which will be a 
sufficient excuse for me. 

He says that " all the Heretics consider us 
" as Idolaters, on account of the Vows, which 
" are every where made to Saints. And the 
" reason may be," he adds, " because a Vow is an 
" act of religion due to God alone, as appears from 
" divine Scripture, where always Vows are said to 
" be made to God. Nevertheless, that they may 
" in some manner be made to Samts, is most cer- 
" tain :" and to the establishment of this pro- 
position, he then proceeds. After citing the 
authority of Fathers, he quotes the answer of 
St. Thomas to the argument against Vows to 
Saints, suggested above. This answer is as 
follows — " That Vows made to Saints include 
" two promises, one to the Saint, — and that is not 
" formally a Vow, but the matter of a Vow ; and 
' ' the other to God, — and this is formally the Vow ; 
" as, for instance, when a man says ' I Vow to 
" ' the blessed Mary that I will make a pilgrimage 



* De Cult. Sanct. lib. iii. c. 9. 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



31 



M ' to her house/ he promises to the Virgin this 
• ' pilgrimage, but this promise is not a Vow ; 
" and at the same time promises to God, that 
" he will fulfil his promise made to the Virgin ; 
" and this second promise is truly the Vow." 

But this answer, Bellarmine admits, is insuffi- 
cient. It will do very well, says he, in the 
case of vows made to living men, such as vow- 
ing obedience to a prelate, for this is in fact a 
Vow to God, the intention of it being to honour 
not the prelate but God. " But," continues 
Bellarmine, " he who vows to the Saints a fast 
u ora pilgrimage, intends thereby to pay a religious 
" honour to the saints themselves!" Besides, says 
he, it has been proved against that article of 
St. Thomas, from the very profession of the 
Fratres Prsedicatores, that vows are truly made 
to the saints ; for they say, in 'making their pro- 
fession, " I vow to God, and to the blessed Mary, 
(i and to all the saints, that I will be obedient 
e i to such or such a prelate," where of the two 
promises, included in the words, that, which is 
formally the vow is directed to God and the 
saints together. 

Another solution, therefore, has been adduced, 
namely, that vows are made to saints not as 
they are certain creatures endowed with reason, 
but, as in them God dwelleth by Glory ; so that 



32 



VOWS TO THE SAINTS 



the vows made to saints are made to God in 
saints, in the same manner as maledictions 
against saints are blasphemous, because God is 
blasphemed in them. 

This solution is accepted by Bellarmine, who 
says, however, that vows are not made to God, 
and to saints, exactly after the same sort, and 
therefore that vows to the latter are not idola- 
trous : for it is universally agreed among Catho- 
lics, that a thing is promised to God, in testi- 
mony of our gratitude to him as the first cause 
of all good, and in acknowledgment of blessings 
received from himself, but to saints, in testimony 
of our gratitude to them, as our mediators and 
intercessors, through whom we have received 
blessings from God. 

There remains one objection for him to an- 
swer, which he thus states; "If a promise made 
" to dead saints may be called a vow; why not 
" also a promise to saints still living with us ?" 
His answer is as follows; because, first, a pro- 
mise made to saints reigning with Christ is 
more like a promise made to God, than one 
which is made to a living man ; inasmuch as 
the thing promised is not useful to the saints 
in Heaven, but to ourselves, and is only offered 
in testimony of our veneration and gratitude ; 
secondly, because a vow is not suitable to 



AND VIRGIN MARY. 



33 



stains, unless as they are Gods by participation* 
and we know for certain that saints reigning 
with Christ are really such; besides, they are 
confirmed in that state and cannot fall from it. 
In both which respects they differ from living- 
saints. 

I have dwelt with Bellarmine at some length 
on this particular, at the risk of being tedious; 
because I think it throws much light on the 
kind of honour paid by members of your Church 
to saints. For, whether your church be, or 
be not, answerable for Bellarmine s arguments, 
he at least must be admitted as a sufficient 
evidence of facts, namely, of the general preva- 
lence of the practice of offering vows to saints, 
and of the general notion of the nature of them 
entertained by your highest authorities. That 
the multitude in his day regarded them still 
more seriously, and offered them with the ut- 
most degree of religious confidence, and on the 
most ordinary and trivial occasions, is plain 
from the testimony of his contemporary Eras- 
mus, a testimony which he cites himself, with- 
out affecting to contradict it, I mean the dia- 

* Votum non convenit Sanctis, nisi quatenus sunt Dii per 
participationem ; at Sanctos, cum Deo regnant es, certc scimus esse 
tales. Bell. ibid. 

D 



34 



DEVOTION TO SAINTS. 



logue entitled "Naufragium," a rich treat to 
those who have never read it. 

For the prevalence, and the kind of vows, 
offered to saints in these days, I venture to 
refer to any modern traveller in Spain or Italy. 

I admit, that I am not aware of any positive 
order of your Church for this particular species 
of honour to saints; but it will hardly be con- 
tended that it is not, as a Church, answerable 
for a practice so ancient, so general, so strongly 
asserted and enforced by its greatest divines, 
and never in any way restrained. 

And here I should proceed to prayers ad- 
dressed by your Church to saints ; but there is 
one previous question, (a very simple one it is 
true,) which requires to be first stated. As you 
are in the habit of addressing a good many 
saints, the merits of very few of whom are 
mentioned in Scripture, a plain man might ask, 
— What assurance you have that they really are 
Saints ? Is it not possible that very awkward 
mistakes may occasionally happen ? That you 
may, for instance, address your petitions to 
persons of very different characters, and occu- 
pying a very different place in the world of 
Spirits, from that which you suppose? And this 
uncertainty, if it be not removed, must consider- 
ably impair the zeal of all rational worshippers. 



FALSE SAINTS. 



35 



The possibility of all this is so manifest, that 
you have very long been provided with a re- 
medy. It is true, that for some centuries mat- 
ters went on rather uncertainly, and during 
that time very unpleasant accidents did some- 
times occur. Pope Alexander III. had occasion 
to reprehend certain persons for worshipping, 
as a martyr to the cause of true religion, a man 
who was in truth only a martyr to the strength 
of his wine, having been killed in a state of 
drunkenness.* And Bellarmine informs us, 
on the authority of Sulpicius, of the following 
remarkable occurrence which happened to St. 
Martin. f He had long entertained some pretty 
strong doubts of the propriety of the devotions 
offered by the people in his neighbourhood to 
a supposed saint; because, in truth, there was 
nothing very certain or satisfactory in the tra- 
ditions concerning him. One day, when St. 
Martin was at his prayers, the ghost of this 
personage appeared to him, and frankly con- 
fessed "that he was a damned spirit; that when 
" alive he had been a robber; and that he had 
" suffered death for his crimes by the hand of 
" the public executioner.'* 

To prevent the recurrence of similar mistakes, 



* Bell, de Cult. Sanct. 1. i. c. 7. 

D 2 



t Ibid. 



36 



CANONIZATION. 



a solemn process, under the especial cognizance 
of the Pope, has long been instituted, by which 
the pretensions of any deceased persons, for 
whom the honour of Sainthood is demanded, 
are strictly examined; particularly the suffi- 
ciency of the miracles alleged to have been 
wrought by him ; for the working of miracles 
is always held to be an indispensable qualifica- 
tion. In this process all imaginable precau- 
tions are taken; the lapse of at least a hundred 
years after the disease of the saints is, if I 
mistake not, patiently expected, whether to 
collect evidence, to preclude partiality, or to 
remove prejudices. A devil's advocate, as I 
believe he is called, is assigned for the purpose 
of suggesting every objection, and enforcing 
every reasonable doubt; — the inquest " pro- 
" ceeds," you tell us, " through several stages, 
" until it is ascertained, by the most solemn 
" and strict proofs, that the party possessed 
" the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, in an 
" eminent, or, — to use the language of the 
"proceeding, — in an heroic degree ; and that 
" miracles were worked by him, or through 
" his intercession."* If, with all this care, a 



* "Book of the Roman-Catholic Church/' p. 280. 



v. mary's birth supernatural. 37 

decree of the Pope be not infallible,* it is hard 
indeed. 

The effect of a favourable sentence, under 
such circumstances, cannot fail to be that of 
giving confidence to the pious worshipper, and 
increasing the intensity of his devotion. Bulls 
of canonization do not often fall in our way; 
but from one which I have met with in favour 
of a countryman of our own, St. Anselm, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who is justly the object 
of your very high praise, I find that Pope 
x4Jexander enjoins and commands all the faith- 
ful to worship, venerate, and adore, all who are 
admitted into the number of saints. f 

But I shall now proceed to a more par- 
ticular enquiry into the sort of honour pre- 
scribed by your Church to be paid to them, 
especially in the case of the Virgin Mary. 
Let us see then, first, what is the notion of your 
Church respecting the personal dignity of the 
Virgin, and secondly, what are the devotions 
actually addressed to her. In following this 
course, I shall confine myself rigidly to autho- 
rities which you cannot reject: I will not make 

* Bell, de Sanct. Beatit. lib. i, cap. 9. says that Catholics de- 
clare it to be certain, that the Church does not err in the 
canonization of saints. 

t Labbe, Concil. t. xiii, p. 1474. 



38 



IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



use of any Breviary or Missal, but those which 
were reformed, and set forth according to the 
decree of the Council of Trent. 

Now, in the reformed Breviary, your Church 
has thought proper to proclaim, that the birth 
of the Virgin was supernatural* and to institute 
a festival in honour of her conception by her 
Mother Anna. Whether this conception was 
immaculate, so that she should in this respect 
be held equal to her blessed Son, as having 
been born without any taint of original sin, is 
well known to have been the subject of a long 
and obstinate contention between two of your 
greatest religious orders; the Franciscans, fol- 
lowing the opinion of Duns Scotus, strenuously 
maintaining the affirmative, which was as stre- 
nuously denied by St. Thomas and the Domi- 
nicans. The former, however, was the more 
general opinion ; and a festival, I repeat, was 
appointed in honour of her conception, for 
which, unless on account of its having been 
immaculate, it is not very easy to assign any 
sufficient reason. | 

* Yid. Breviar. die xxi. Nov. In festo praesentatiouis B. M. 

t Bellarmine, afraid to pronounce that the Church positively 
affirms the doctrine of the immaculate Conception, and yet 
feeling the awkwardness of having the festival without the ac- 
knowledgment of the immaculacy of the Conception, says (De 



VIRGIN MARY WITHOUT SIN. 39 

Sixtus IV., in the bulls by which he institutes 
a particular office for this festival, and gives 
indulgence to those who celebrate it, seems 
to recognize the immaculacy of the conception; 
though he speaks of it as a point not yet decided 
by the Church.* The Council of Trent not 
only adopts and confirms the bulls of Sixtus, 
but also expressly declares, that it does not 
comprehend the Virgin Mary in its decre respect- 
ing original sin,\ namely, that all mankind are 
infected with it by propagation from Adam. It 
is true, that by forbearing to say in terms, that 
the Virgin was free from original sin, the Coun- 

Cult. Sanct.lib. iii, c. 16,) that "the Conception was 'somehow 
" ' or other sacred,' (aliquo modo sanctam) because there is a 
" festival in its honour." 

* In the first of these bulls, (which are printed with the Acts 
of the Council of Trent, having been particularly confirmed 
and adopted by the council,) Sixtus speaks thus : " dignum, 
" quin potius debitum, reputamus, universos Christi fideles, ut 
" omnipotent Deo de ipsius immaculatce Virginis mird conceptione 
" gratias et laudes referant invitare." In the other bull, he uses 
the expression " ejusdem immaculate conceptionis :" in this latter 
bull, while he pours forth all sorts of vehement denunciations 
against those who speak of the belief of the article as heretical, 
condemning such speeches as " false, erroneous, and utterly 
"foreign from the truth," he censures the other party for utter- 
ing similar charges of heresy against their adversaries, merely 
" because the point has not yet been decided by the Church." 

f Sess. v. 



40 



VIRGIN MARY WITHOUT SIN. 



cil left a small loophole for the Dominicans ; 
and thus while Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 
in his treatise against Luther, written before 
the Council, had treated it as a matter beyond 
all question, that the Virgin was u devoid of all 
f* taint as well of original as of actual sin;"* Bel- 
larmine, who wrote subsequently, was content 
to say, that " it is quite certain, and the uni- 
" versal opinion of the Church, affirmed by 
" the Council of Trent, that she was free from 
" actual sin, and it is pious to think that she 
" was also free from original sin." The Coun- 
cil, in the canon to which Bellarmine refers, 
goes so far as to declare, that " by the special 
" privilege of God the blessed Virgin was, 
" during her whole life, able to avoid all, even 
" venial, sins."| 

In accordance with this doctrine of the Coun- 
cil, she is spoken of in the Roman Breviary 
as having " a conscience absolutelv devoid of 
" sin, "J and, again, as " stained by no earthly 
<e affections. "§ From this resemblance to her di- 
vine Son, in being " without sin," the transition 
becomes more easy to other points of resem- 



* Adv. Luther, art. xvii. p. 490. 
t Sess. vi. c. 23. * In Oct. Assumpt. B. M. 

§ In Assumpt. B. M. 



VIRGIN MARYS ASSUMPTION. 41 

blance, at least, if not of equality. Accordingly, 
she is coupled with our Lord in the great work 
of man's salvation, in a way which can scarcely 
fail to lead the unwary to ascribe as much, or 
nearly as much, of that blessed work to her, as 
to our Lord himself. Not to multiply instances, 
the following is the opening of a lesson in the 
" Officium B. Mariae in Sabbato," (Mense Junio,) 
" Grievously, my beloved, were we hurt by 
" one man and one woman (Adam and Eve) ; 
" but thanks be to God, not less by one man and 
" one woman* are all things restored, aye and 
" with great usury of grace ; for not as was 
" the offence, so also is the free gift, &c." 

Festivals to her honour are as frequent, as to 
the honour of Christ himself. Besides the fes- 
tival of her Conception, there is one of her 
Nativity, another of her Presentation by her 
parents in the Temple, and another of her As- 
sumption into Heaven. A similarity indeed 
between her and our blessed Lord is studiously 
affected. Not only is the assumption of her 
body into Heaven made to parallel our Lord's 

* " Daughter of the eternal Father ! Mother of the eternal 
Son ! and Spouse of the Holy Ghost !" is an address to her in 
the Devout Communicant, p. 66. one of the prayer-books 
commonly used in England. 



42 virgin mary's assumption. 

ascension, but that body itself is stated, like 
our Lord's, to have been miraculously preserved 
from corruption. On the 4th day of the week 
after the Assumption, (for a whole week is de- 
voted to the honour of that event,) a lesson is 
read, in which it is declared that " at the time 
" of her glorious falling asleep" (her death,) " all 
" the Apostles, who were employed in their 
" holy mission through the whole earth, for the 
tc salvation of mankind, were in a moment car- 
" ried aloft through the air, and brought toge- 
" ther to Jerusalem : — while they were there, 
" they saw a vision of Angels, and heard the 
" hymns of the Hosts of Heaven, and so with 
" divine glory she delivered her Soul into the hands 
" of God. But her body was taken amidst the 
" songs of Angels and of the Apostles, and de- 
" posited in a coffin at Gethsemane, in which 
" place the melody of Angels continued for 
" three days. At the end of those days, the 
" Apostles opened the tomb, to enable Thomas, 
" who alone had hitherto been absent, to fulfil 
" a wish which he felt, to adore that body, which 
" had borne the Lord. On opening it, the body 
" was no where to be found, but only the grave- 
" clothes in which it had been wrapped ; and 
" from them issued an ineffable odour, per- 
" vading the atmosphere around. So wonder- 



VIRGIN MARY'S TITLES. 



43 



" ful and mysterious an event astonished the 
«' Apostles, who could draw from it but one 
" conclusion, that it had pleased the Word of 
" God, that her immaculate body (by which 
" he was incarnate) should be preserved from 
" corruption, and should be at once translated 
" to Heaven, without waiting for the general 
" resurrection of all flesh." 

In the service of the next day is the folio wing- 
lesson. " But who is sufficient to conceive, 
" how glorious on this day was the progress of 
" the Queen of the World! with what transport 
" of devout affection the whole multitude of 
" the Heavenly Hosts went forth to meet her ! 
" with what hymns she was conducted to the 
" throne of glory ! with how placid, how serene 
" an aspect ! with what divine embraces she 
" was received by her Son, and exalted above 
" every creature, — with that honour which be- 
" came the worth of so great a Mother, and 
" that glory which befitted so great a Son !" 

The Title, here bestowed on her, of " Queen 
" of the World," is not the highest which she 
has received. In the Bull of Sixtus, adopted, 
I repeat, by the Council of Trent, she is styled 
" Queen of the Heavens," and her Son is spoken 
of in the same sentence as " King." Indeed in 



44 



LESSONS FROM THE BREVIARY 



one of your popular Prayer-Books, now in use 
l n this country, (to which therefore you refer 
us,) she is thus addressed, " O glorious Queen 
" of Heaven.''* This same title " Queen of 
" Heaven"' is given to her in the Breviary :| 
where she is also called u Domina omnium 
" creaturarum," able, therefore, we may pre- 
sume, to dispense to her worshippers any bless- 
ing they can need or ask. 

On the fifth day of the week of her Nativity 
occurs the following : — " Truly a great miracle, 
61 my beloved brethren, was the ever blessed 
" Virgin Mary. For what in any past time 
" was ever found, or what in time to come will 
" it be possible to find, greater or more illus- 
" trious than she ? She alone has surpassed 
" Heaven and Earth in her greatness. For 
" what is more holy than she ? Neither Pro- 
" phets, nor Apostles, nor Martyrs, nor Patri- 
<f archs, nor Angels, nor Thrones, nor Powers, 
" nor Seraphim, nor Cherubim, nor aught be- 
" side of created things, visible, or invisible, 
" can be found greater or more excellent. She 
" is at once the handmaid and the mother of 
" God, a Virgin and a Mother." 

* The Devout Communicant, p. 29. 
"t Off. B. Maris, tempore Pascbali. 



OX VIRGIN MARY'S FESTIVALS. 



45 



At the hazard of being tedious, I must insert 
he following lesson taken from an exposition 
n 1 Sam. i. 1. " Now there was a cer- 
tain Man of Ramathaim-zophim, of Mount 
Ephraim." 

" The most blessed, ever-virgin Mary, Mo- 
ther of God, may be designated by the name 
of the Mountain. For she was indeed a 
Mountain, who by the dignity of her election 
transcended every exaltation of every elect 
creature. Was not Mary a sublime Moun- 
tain, who, that she might attain to the con- 
ception of the eternal Word, reared the summit 
of her merits above all the choirs of Angels, 
even to the throne of the Godhead? For this 
is the Mountain, of whose surpassing dignity 
Isaiah prophesies. ' It shall come to pass in 
f the last days, that the Mountain of the Lord's 
' House shall be established in the top of the 
' Mountains.' For a Mountain she was in the 
top of the Mountains ; because the exalted 
height of Mary shone resplendent above all 
Saints:"* 

And an extract from a lesson on Rev. xii. 1. 
And there appeared a great wonder in Hea- 
ven, a Woman clothed with the Sun,*' &c. 



* Off. B. M. Mense Augusto. 



4G 



VIRGIN MARY. 



" Let us embrace the footsteps of Mary, my 
" brethren, and with the devoutest supplication 
" let us fling ourselves before her blessed feet. 
" Let us hold her fast; let us not suffer her to 
" go, till she hath blessed us; for she is power- 
" ful. She is ' the Fleece of Wool between 
" ' the dew and the threshing-floor' (Judges vi- 
" 37); but perhaps your wonder is rather given 
" to (her other symbol) 6 the Woman clothed 
" ' with the Sun.' For great indeed is this 
" connexion, wonderful is the nearness of the 
" Sun and the Woman. How is it, that in 
" so intense a fire, so frail a nature subsists ? 
" Verily, with reason, thou, O holy Moses, 
" wonderest and longest with curious eye to 
" look into it. But ' put thy shoes from off 
" ' thy feet,' and cast a vail over thy fleshly 
" cogitations, if thou desirest to draw nigh." 

But to Protestant ears the most offensive in- 
stance of profaneness is the repeated, the con- 
stant application to her of verses of the 24th 
chapter of Ecclesiasticus, which were meant 
to refer to the divine Wisdom ; particularly the 
9th and 10th verses: — " He created me from 
" the beginning, before the world, and I shall 
c< never fail : in the holy tabernacle I minis- 
" tered before him;" — and again,* though more 



* Missal, in Nativ. B. M. V. et in Coneept. B. M. V. 



VIRGIN MARY. 



47 



rarely, of the 8th chapter of Proverbs, from 
the 22d to the 35th verses, a passage often used 
to prove the eternal generation of the Son of 
God: — "The Lord possessed me in the begin- 
" ning of his way, before his works of old. I 
" was set up from everlasting, from the begin- 
" ning, or ever the earth was: &c. &c. Hear 
" instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 
" Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching 
" daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of 
" my doors : for whoso findeth me, findeth life, 
" and shall obtain favour of the Lord." 

In some degree of accordance with these re- 
presentations of her dignity are the hymns and 
prayers addressed to her. 

" Mary, mother of grace, 

" Mother of mercy, 

" Do thou protect us from the enemy, 

" And at the hour of death take us to thyself."*' 

" Loose the bonds of the guilty, 
" Hold forth light to the blind, 



* In Off. parv. B. M. 

Maria Mater Gratia© 
Mater Misericordiae 
Tu nos ab hoste protege 
Et hor& mortis suscjpe.. 



48 



VIRGIN" MARY. 



" Drive all evil from us, N 
" Ask all good things for us. 
" Sheiv thyself to be a Mother, 
" Let him through thee receive our prayers, 
" Who for our sakes submitted 
" To be born thy son."* 
It is worth remarking that, in this latter in- 
stance, an important change has been wrought 
in transferring the original hymn into your 
English book of devotion, in order to accom- 
modate it to the feelings of those who live 
among Protestants. The turn given to it in the 
" Garden of the soul," p. 254, is as follows, 
% Exert the Mother's care, 

" And us thy children own, 
" To him convey our prayer, 
i( Who chose to be thy Son;" 
thus ingeniously avoiding the awkward request 
implied in the original, that she will exercise 

* In Off. B. M. et passim— 

Solve vincla reis, 
Profer lumen csecis, 
Mala nostra pelle, 
Bona cuncta posce. 
Monstra te esse Matrem, 
Sumat per te preces, 
Qui pro nobis natus, 
Tulit esse tuns. 



VIRGIN 



mart's intercession. 



49 



the influence of a Mother over her blessed Son, 
and so secure his acceptance of our prayers. 

But all this, it will be said, is poetry ; and 
the language of poetry, even in hymns, is not 
to be taken literally. Let us see, then, in one 
or two brief instances, what is the tone of your 
prayers in prose. 

" Vouchsafe to allow me to praise thee, O 
" Sacred Virgin : give me strength against thy 
gt enemies/'* 

" To thy protection we fly, O holy mother 
" of God. Despise not our prayers in the 
" time of our necessities ; but from all dangers 
" alway deliver us, O Virgin glorious and 
" blessed."f 

It is perfectly true, that in general she is ad- 
dressed to help her worshippers by her interces- 
sion; but this is accompanied by such acknow- 
ledgment of the efficacy of her intercession, as 
seems but little suitable to any mediator less 
than divine. Such is the following : " Admit 
" our prayers within the sanctuary of hearing, 
" and bring back to us the antidote of recon- 
" dilation." " Through thee, may that be par- 
" donable which through thee we urge : may 
1 6 that be able to be obtained, which with a 

* Off. parv. B, Marise. f Off. pary. B, Maris, 



50 



PRAYER TO VIRGIN MARY. 



" faithful mind we pray; Because thou art the 
" only hope of sinners:* Through thee we hope 
f< for pardon of our offences , and in thee, O most 
u blessed, is the expectation of our rewards. Holy 
" Mary, succour the miserable, assist the hum- 

ble-minded, cherish the afflicted, pray for 
" the people, interpose for the clergy, intercede 
M for the devout women : Let all feel thy help 
" who celebrate thy nativity." 

And now permit me to ask you, Sir, whether 
you think that the Church which has prescribed 
such services, as I have here quoted, in its au- 
thorized liturgy, its most formal book of pub- 
lic devotion, is indeed so innocent as you have 
represented ? Can it be truly averred, that 
" from saying to God ' Have mercy on us,' the 
<( descent is infinite t to addresses such as these 
tl to the Virgin Mary V Will you press for an 
answer to your questions, "Whether the au- 
" thorities which you have cited do not give 
" a true and clear exposition of the doctrine of 
"your Church upon this important subject? 
" Whether the doctrine be idolatrous or super- 

*i Tu es spes unica peccatorum. Per te speramns delictorum 
veniam j et in te, beatissima, nosf rorum est expectatio prds- 
mioniHi, &c. — Sect. v. & vi. in Die ix Septembris, 2da infra 
Oct. Nativ. B.M.Y. 

t Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. lOi. 



CITATIONS FROM THORN DYKE. 



51 



<e stitious ? Whether the practice of it do not Jill 
" the mind ivith soothing reflections ? with thoughts 
" that increase charity, and animate piety ?"* 

What may be your thoughts under the prac- 
tice of such devotions, it is not for me to con- 
jecture. If " the hours thus spent by you" be, 
as you intimate, " among the most pleasing of 
your life," may He, who alone knows, and who 
will mercifully allow for, all that is in man, the 
strength of early prejudice and long-confirmed 
habit, and above all, the weakness of our poor 
reason to resist them — may He extend to you 
on that day when we all shall need it, the full 
benefit of that His most merciful allowance! 

But you insinuate that " several distinguished 
" divines of our own Church maintain the same 
" doctrine."| I defy you to name a single one: 
and if you are unable to do so, is it worthy of 
your character, or consistent with ordinary can- 
dour, to hazard so wild a suggestion ? You 
name indeed one, Doctor Thorhdyke, not as 
holding the doctrine of your Church on this 
subject, (that would be too bold,) but as acquit- 
ting it of the charge of idolatry. 

Dr. MilnerJ; has also availed himself of the 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 102. 
t Id. ib. 

| End of Controversy, p. 252. 

E 2 



52 ALLEGED PROTESTANT AUTHORITIES 

same passage from Thorndyke, which you 
quote, and has been pleased to give that author 
a very appropriate praise ; he calls him re- 
peatedly, "the candid Prebendary of West- 
minster." 

To shew you that he has well merited that 
title, I will give you two passages from different 
books of his, that which you quote not having 
fallen in my way.* The first shall be from his 
largest and most important work, entitled 
" An Epilogue to the Tragedy of the Church 
of England," published in 1659. In the 3d 
book, p. 357, 358, speaking of those prayers in 
your Church, which are addressed to the saints, 
desiring of them the same blessings, spiritual, 
and temporal, which all Christians desire of 
God, in which class, I conceive, must be num- 
bered most of those cited by me from the Ro- 
man Breviary, he has these words : " Taking 
" them at the foot of the letter, and valuing 
" the intent of those that use them, by nothing 
" but the words of them, they are mere idola- 
" tries. And were we bound to make the acts 
" of them that teach these prayers the acts of 
"the Church, because it tolerates them, and 

* Since these papers have been . sent to the press, I have 
seen a copy of Thorndyke's "Just Weights and Measures/' and 
I find your citation from if correct. 



\ 



FOR PRAYER TO SAINTS. 



53 



" maintains them in it, instead of casting them 
" out, it would be hard to free that Church from 
" idolatrie/' " But the words of these are 
" capable of the same limitation, that I gave 
" to the words of our Lord, when I said, that 
" they whom Christians do good to here, may 
" be said to receive them into everlasting habi- 
" tation. because God does it in consideration 
" of them, &c. &c." 

I will add an extract from another tract 
of Thorndyke's, expressly entitled " Judgment 
" of the Church of Rome." The 12th head of 
which is as follows: " To pray to saints de- 
" parted for those things which only God can 
" give (as all Papists do) is, by the proper sense 
" of their words, downright idolatry. If they 
" say their meaning is by a figure only to desire 
u them to procure their requests of God: How 
" dare any Christian trust his son I with that 
" Church, which teaches that which must needs be 
" idolatry in all that understand not the figure?" 

And now, Sir, I willingly leave to you and 
Dr. Milner ail the advantage you can derive 
from the admission of this " candid Prebendary 
" of Westminster." 

But you claim the further authority of " se- 
" veral of the most eminent Protestant Divines,"' 
of ie several of the brightest lights of the esta- 



54 



FALSE CITATION 



" blished Church/' such as " Archbishop Shel- 
" don, and the Bishops Blandford, Gunning, 
" Montague, &c."* 

Of the names of these Bishops, whom you 
thus highly extol, two, Sheldon and Blandford, 
are utterly unknown to Protestants as theolo- 
gical authorities ; of the others I will only say, 
that, eminent as they were in their respective 
generations, their merits have not been such 
as to secure to them much attention from pos- 
terity. But be they as illustrious as you choose, 
I undertake to shew, that not one of them is a 
witness in your favour. 

Of Archbishop Sheldon and Bishop Gunning 
enough has been said in my letter to Earl Grey,f 
to which I beg leave to refer you. Of Bishop 
Blandford's opinion the only alleged evidence 
is a hearsay of the Duchess of York, a convert 
to her husband's religion ; contained in a letter 
of hers, which, I believe, (for I have not been 
able to procure it,) first appeared several years 
after the death both of the Duchess and of the 
Bishop. And if evidence of this kind is worth 
attention, I will undertake to prove that there 
is scarcely any opinion however blasphemous or 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 327. 
t See below. 



FROM BISHOP MOUNJAGU. 



55 



immoral, which has not been maintained by 
Prelates of your Church. 

The only one that remains is Bishop Mon- 
tague ; of him you say as follows — " Bishop 
f Montague in particular owns, that ' the 
" *.. blessed in heaven do commend to God, in 
" 'their prayers, their kindred, friends, and 
" ' acquaintance on earth.''' " e This,' saith the 
" learned prelate, ' is the common voice with 
" ' the general concurrence, without contra- 
" ' diction, of reverend and learned antiquity, 
" 'for aught I ever could read or understand; 
" ' and I see no cause or reason to dissent from 
" ' them touching intercession in this kind.'"* 

Now, Sir, on this passage, permit me, first, 
to ask, by what process of the understanding 
you arrive at the conclusion you draw from it. 
" Bishop Mountagu says, that the saints in 
heaven pray for men to God; therefore, he holds 
it to be not idolatry for men on earth to pray 
to the saints in heaven." Was there ever such 
a syllogism? 

But I will not waste time in arguing against 
the logic of the case. I have a more disagree- 
able duty to discharge, I have to expose its 
dishonesty. The truth is, that the citation 



* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church; p. 328, 



56 



FALSE CITATION FROM 



itself (which you have been duped by some old 
controversialist to adopt) is a gross, an abomi- 
nable fraud, — a fraud the more abominable, 
because the work* on which it is practised, 
lies out of the reach of ordinary readers, and 
detection therefore is rendered difficult. 

A copy of that work is now before me, and 
I find on examining it, first, that the sentences 
cited by you have been transposed; that the one, 
attesting the assent of the ancients, does not 
attest their assent to what you have stated. 
Next I find, that the real scope of the passage is 
the very contrary to what you insinuate. I will 
give you the Bishop's own words; and I am 
sorry to be obliged to do this at some length. 

" Charitie," says he, " is transcendent in 
" these celestiall citizens; and therefore no 
" question, they pray for men on earth. But 
" how? and for whom? All Christians in gene- 
" rail; their brethren as yet in great tribula- 
" tion, the Church militant upon the face of 
f< the earth. This they know; the state of these, 
" and their necessities are knoiven to them in hea- 
" ven : and upon knowledge they doe commiserate 
" them, and commiseration procureth interces- 
*' sion, else were there no communion of saints ? 

t l( - Invocation of Saints," by Bishop Montagu, 



BISHOP MO UN TAG L . 



57 



*? no bond betwixt the militant and triumphant 
" Church. In specie, for those Churches, 
" whereof themselves were parts, noble and 

lively members, yet being in the flesh, as 
i( more interessed there than otherwere." 
" But so for those, ordinarily and of common 
" course, as that which they pray for is the ge- 
" neral good of all, not the particular interest 
" of any one." He then cites an instance from 
Gregory Nazianzene, and adds, " This is the 
" common voice with generall concurrence, 
" without contradiction, of reverend and learn- 
" ed antiquitie, &c." 

The author next carries the matter one step 
farther, and says expressly of himself, what you 
make him allege has the universal assent of 
antiquity ; but he says even this in a sense the 
very contrary to that which you would have it 
to bear : for he says it with limitations, which 
the writer, whom you follow, fraudulently sup- 
presses ; but which imply the impossibility of the 
Saints in Heaven being at all moved by, or even 
privy to, the prayers addressed to them by men on 
Earth. The following are the Bishop's words. 

" I adde in particular" (that is, of my own 
mind, not from the general concurrence of an- 
tiquity) " yet somewhat farther. Those with 
" God may and doe recommend unto God in 



58 



DR. MILNER S UNFAIR 



" their celestiall prayers, their kindred, friends, 
" and acquaintance upon Earth, whom they 
" knew, in whose love and familiar itie they had 
" interest yet being in the flesh, and with whom 
*' they had conversed more reservedly. But 
" no sort and manner for them, then only for 
" such instant and exigent necessities; For such 
" causes, occasions, and employments, as being yet 
" in vivis, and conversant with them, they knew of, 
" understood, and were acquainted withali or 
" interessed in, and have not forgotten being re~ 
" siants in those heavenly habitations, and all 
" teares wiped away from their own eyes." 

Dr. Milner* has conducted this part of the 
case somewhat more astutely, and with less 
offence against the laws of logic. He has not 
fallen into your palpable ignoratio elenchi ; 
but he too has had recourse to an expedient, 
which, I am confident, it would snve vou more 
pain to adopt, than to be called for once a bad 
logician. Dr. Milner quotes part of a sentence 
from the same treatise of Bishop Mountagu, in 
proof of his assertion, that he had " altogether 
" abandoned the charge of Idolatry against Roman- 
" Catholics on this head;" " I own Christ is 
" not wronged in his mediation. It is no im- 



* End of Controversy, p. 252. 



CITATION FROM BISHOP MQUNTAGU. 59 

" piety to say, as they do : Holy Mary, pray 
44 for me : Holy Peter, pray for me."* 

I have already said (what Dr. Milner has not 
said) that this is part of a sentence. I will now 
proceed to give the whole of it, in order that 
our readers may see with what fairness this part 
has been brought forward as a proof that the 
Author altogether abandoned the charge of Idol- 
atry. " I grant," says he, " Christ is not 
" wronged in his mediation. It is no impietie 
44 to say as they doe, Sancta Maria, ora pro me : 
" Sancte Peter, ora pro me, and so no wrong 
44 unto Christ Jesus, to use mediation of inter- 
44 cession unto him. As it is taught, I adde in 
44 their schooles: by their Doctors: resolved by 
44 that oracle of Trent. But not as is practised 
" in their use and custome, where simple men in- 
44 voke Saints as they doe God: go to their devo- 
44 tions unto the blessed Virgin, not only far more 
"frequently than to Christ Jesus : but without any 
" difference at all goe to it downe right, as to the 
" Authors and originals of the things they desire, 
44 having them in their power to bestow or not." 
Then, after allowing that the Saints in Heaven 
have greater power than on Earth, 44 not to give 
44 but to intreate," he refers to the former part of 



>* Invocation of Saints, p. 118. 



60 



BISHOP MOUNTAGU'S OPINION. 



his subject in these words, if But admit it not 
" impietie, as I think it is not, it is fiat and egre- 
" gious fooler ie at the best." 

The truth is, Sir, that in this very interest- 
ing Treatise, Bishop Mountagu ably disproves 
the doctrine of your Church on the invocation of 
Saints; shews the futility of all argument for 
it from reason, from Scripture, and from the 
Fathers ; in short, he concludes it, to use his 
own words, a point of plain folly and ridieu- 
" lous absurditie, as it is laid downe: even by 
" the most learned, judicious, and advised 
" amongst them," and " in point of practice 
" and performance, by the simple vulgar people, 
" not acquainted with, nor capable of scholas- 
" ticall niceties, or difference in termes, of In- 
" vocation and Advocation, Helpe originall, and 
" derived ;" it is "fiat Impietie against God, and 
" Idolatrie in their ordinarie devotion unto the 
" creature. " # And yet, so decidedly on this 
point was the Church of England in his day 
opposed to yours, that Bishop Mountagu was 
charged with " Poperie," for even making the 
smail admission which we have seen above. 

I venture to predict, Sir, that we shall hear 
no more panegyrics on this Bishop, from you 
or Dr. Milner. 

* See <f The Epistle Dedicatorie." 



LUTHER. EDINBURGH REV I EW. 



61 



There remains one other authority cited 
against us, both by yourself and by Dr. Milner, 
on which I will say a few words, once for all, I 
mean Martin Luther. We venerate the memory 
of that great Reformer, and humbly thank God 
for those greatest of all blessings, religious 
liberty, and its consequence, religious truth, of 
which he was the instrument. But we are too 
true to his principles to admit all, or nearly all, 
of his opinions. In many of the points, in 
which he differed from the other Fathers of the 
Reformation, we think him in error. We are, 
in short, as you well know, not Lutherans; 
though a great theological authority, the Edin- 
burgh Review,* has recently in all seriousness 
pronounced that we are such ; that there are 
in England no less than nine millions of that 
denomination, and in Ireland, five hundred 
thousand Lutherans, (synonymous with mem- 
bers of the Established Church,) in contradis- 
tinction to other Protestants. 



* No. lxxxii. p. 376. 



( 62 ) 



LETTER III. 

Belies. — Images. — The Cross. 

Your next particular is thus introduced ; 
<f pursuing the same method, in respect to the 
" Cross, and Relics of theSaints, I shall transcribe 
" the decree of the Council of Trent upon 
" them: 1 ' and, having said this, you quote a 
short passage respecting Images. 

The Crow shall be considered presently: but, 
meanwhile, permit me to express my astonish- 
ment at the manner in which you thus venture 
to dispose of Relics. Instead of keeping the 
promise, which you have made,— instead of 
" transcribing the decree of the Council of 
'' Trent upon them," you absolutely suppress 
every single syllable which the Council says 
about them. Is this dealing fairly by us ? Has 
the Council been as silent on the subject of 
Relics as you are pleased to insinuate? Far 
otherwise; its decree, — in the same page, and 
immediately preceding the passage which you 
quote, — is as precise, as full of matter impor- 
tant to our enquiry, on this point as on the 



RELICS. 63 

other. It must be my business to supply your 
deficiency, which I will endeavour to do in as 
few words as the case will admit. 

The Council first declares " that the holy 
" bodies of Martyrs and other Saints (which 
" bodies when living were members of Christ, 
" and the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and will 
" hereafter be raised by him to eternal life, and 
" glorified) are to be venerated by the faithful." 
Here you have a positive command of the 
practice: — It next says, that " by these bodies 
" many benefits are conferred by God on men;' here 
you have a reward and encouragement for your 
obedience. Lastly, the Council consigns to 
utter condemnation, " all who affirm, either 
'* that veneration and honour are not due to the 
" relics of Saints; or that the honour paid to 
" them, and the other sacred memorials, is 
" useless, and who say that it is in vain for the 

sake of obtaining their aid (the aid of Relics 
" and other sacred memorials) to frequent the 
i( Sepulchres of the Saints."*' 

* Sess. xxv. " Sanctorum quoque Martyrum, et aliomm 
4f cum Christo viventium sancta corpora, quae viva membra fue- 
" runt Christi, et templum Spiritus Sancti, ab ipso ad aeternam 
" vitam suscitanda etglorificanda, afidelibusveneranda esse : per 
" qu(B multa beneficia a Deo hominibus praestantur : itaut affir- 
" mans Sanctorum ReHquiis venerationcm atque honorem non 



04 



RELICS. 



Surely, Sir, this is not a passage altogether 
without meaning ; it is not one, which ought to 
have been omitted by you, even if you had not 
expressly promised to give it. For it proves, 
beyond contradiction, that your Church teaches 
the people to look to Relics, as means by which 
blessings may be obtained from God. It proves, 
therefore, (in spite of a feeble caution which 
for form's sake is afterwards added,) that the 
monstrous and degrading superstitions, which 
have been practised in this matter, have not been 
the mere unauthorised follies of individuals: but 
that your Church, as a Church, is deeply re- 
sponsible for them; that they are the natural, 
the necessary, results of her own doctrine, and 
are almost sanctioned by her own formal and 
solemn decree. 

But even this decree of the Council is not all. 
Its Catechism is more particular. Assuming as 
notorious, that there is virtue in Relics ; it asks, 
how is this truth confirmed? The answer is 

deberi ; vel eas,, aliaque sacra monumenta, a fidelibus inutiliter 
" honorari; atque eorum opisimpetrandce causa Sanctorum memo- 
" rias frustra frequentari ; omnind damnandos esse, prout jam- 
" pridem eos damnavit, et nunc etiam damnat Ecclesia." It 
is afterwards said " Omnis porro superstitio in Sanctorum invo- 
" catione, Reliquiarum veneratione, et Imaginum sacro usu 
" tollat.ur." 



RELICS, 



G5 



" by the miracles wrought at the Sepulchres of 
" the Saints, by the lost eyes, hands, and other 
" members, which have there been restored; 

V by the dead recalled to life ; by evil Spirits 
" ejected from the bodies of the living." " If 
" garments, handkerchiefs, or the shadow of 
" Saints before they departed out of this* life, 
" expelled diseases, and repaired the wasted 
" strength of the sick; who can dare to deny, 
" that God, by means of their sacred ashes, bones, 
" and other Relics, does still produce the same 

V miraculous effects ?"* On this passage I will 
not waste your time by making any remark. 

Dr. Milner indeed tells us, that " the memo- 
" rials of religion" (a delicate phrase, under 
which he is pleased to vail two particulars, 
which he is rather shy of acknowledging, 
Images and Relics,) " form no essential part of 
" it;'' and he promises those, who will become 
his converts, " never to ask them whether they 
" have a pious picture, relic, or even crucifix, 
" in their possession.''^ In short he gives it to 
be understood, that these matters are " among 
" the adiaphora," things indifferent, " which 

* Cat. Rom. p. Hi. c. 2. s. 8. 

f End of Controversy^ p. 259. 
F 



RELICS. 



' ' the Church may retain or take away, as she 
" judges best." 

All this may sound very plausible in a Pro- 
testant country ; especially, if Dr. Milner (as, 
to do him justice, he strives hard) shall succeed 
in making us believe, that the only purpose for 
which Relics are retained, is, indeed, as " me- 
" morials." Still, in this case, the answer 
would be obvious, that your Church, while she 
retains Relics, especially while she bids her 
people repair to the Sepulchres of Saints on 
account of them, is more wilfully, more wan- 
tonly culpable for all the abuses resulting from 
the practice, than if she esteemed it a matter 
beyond her controul. 

But will Dr. Milner dare openly to say, that 
your Church does not affirm that there is virtue 
in Relics ? and that Miracles are wrought by 
means of them ? If he will not, it is mere 
trifling to tell us, that your Church may, if she 
pleases, do that, which she never dreamed of 
doing, and which, on her own principles, it 
would be the utmost cruelty to do, — I mean, 
deprive her children of those miracles and 
blessings, which she has herself told them may 
be obtained from Relics. Before I close this 
subject, I must not forget, that your Church 
has sanctioned, or rather ordered, a form of 



IMAGES. 



swearing by relics in a court of justice, as we 
swear by God. In the canon law,* an oath, 
prescribed to the accuser in certain cases, con- 
cludes in these words, " so help thee God, and the 
Relics of these Saints" 
I proceed to Images. 

If inadvertence or any other cause has made 
you omit your promised citation of the decree 
respecting Relics, yet on this new subject, 
Images, we shall be sure of having the Council's 
real and full doctrine. Accordingly, you pro- 
fess to exhibit it to us in the following terms : 
" although the images of Christ, the Virgin 
" Mother of God, and the other Saints, are to 
" be kept and retained, particularly in Churches, 
te and due honour and veneration paid to them, 
" yet we are not to believe, that there is any 
" divinity or power in them, for which we re- 
" sped them, or that any thing is to be asked 
" from them, or that trust is to be placed in 
" them, as the heathens of old trusted in their 
" idols." 

Indeed, indeed, Sir, it is not pleasant, to be 
obliged to remonstrate with you at every step. 
But why is it, that you will not be more 
guarded? Why is it, too, that you always 

* Dec. 2 p. c. 35. q. 6. de Parentela. Swearing by Relics 
is referred to in another place, 1 e. 22 q. habemus. 

F 2 



68 



DECREE OF COUNCIL OF TKENT 



mistake on one side ? That you never by any 
chance exceed, but constantly fall short of, the 
real extent of the doctrine, which you under- 
take to exhibit? 

According to your statement of this decree, 
the main purpose of the Council was to prevent 
abuses from the introduction and veneration of 
images ; whereas their real object is expressly 
stated in the original to have been to establish 
the duty of having and paying veneration or 
worship, to images. Do you seriously think, 
that there is no difference between these two 
ways of understanding the decree ? Again, 
will you maintain that the words " propter 
" quam shit colendai' are adequately rendered by 
you and by Dr. Milner,* " for which we respect 
" them?" Lastly, and above all, can you, on 
reflection, hold yourself justified, in stopping 
short, as you have done, at the very point at 
which the decree begins to state, both the 
reason on which the veneration of images is 
grounded, and the extent to which it is actually 
carried ? Let our readers judge between us, 
from the following literal translation of the ori- 
ginal decree : " That the images of Christ, of 

the Virgin- Mother of God, and of the Saints, 
" are to be had and retained, especially in 
" Churches, and due honour and veneration to 

* End of Controversy, p. 255. 



ON IMAGES. 



G9 



" be paid to them ; not because there is be- 
" lieved to be any divinity or virtue in them, 
" on account of which they are to be worship- 
" ped ; or because from them any thing is to 
" be asked ; or because trust is to be reposed 
" on images, as the heathens of old put their 
" trust in idols ; but because the honour which 
" is exhibited to them is referred to the proto- 
" types which they represent ; so that through 
" the images which we kiss, and before which we 
" uncover our heads, and lie prostrate, we adore 
" Christ and pay veneration to the Saints, 
" whose likeness the images bear: as is or- 
" dained by the decrees of councils, particu- 
" larly the second Nicene.'** 

Dr. Milner, in his " End of Controversy, "t 
professing like you to state " what the Ca- 
" tholic Church herself has solemnly pro- 
" nounced on the present subject, in her Ge- 

neral Council of Trent," stops short at the 
same point as yourself. Nay, presently after- 
wards, having occasion to remark on a state- 
ment of Bishop Porteus, that these acts of 
veneration are rendered by your Church to 
images, he will not go further than a mere sup- 
position, for argument's sake, that it may be 
so : " Supposing all this to be true "% says he. 



Cone. Trid. Sess. xxv. 



t p. 256. 



70 



CLAUSE OF THE DECREE 



Really Dr. Milner excels every Controversialist 
I have chanced to meet with, in his faithful 
observance of the judicious maxim of Cicero, 
" Qui semel verecundise fines transient, eum 
" bene et naviter opportet esse impudentem." 

But to return to the decree. From the latter 
part of it, omitted both by you, and by Dr. 
Milner, we have, I submit in the first place, a 
much better illustration of the meaning of the 
general terms " due honour and veneration/' 
than we can obtain by reference to any of the 
unauthorized expositions which you are pleased 
to recommend. Not but that much yet re- 
mains, for an explanation of which we must 
look elsewhere : but meanwhile a good deal 
of light is thrown upon our subject. " To kiss 
" these images, not only of Christ but of the 
" Saints, to uncover the head, and lie prostrate 
" before them," are, it appears, declared by 
the Council of Trent to be the proper, the or- 
dinary, external expressions of the honour due 
to them : and this is going much further than 
any of the works mentioned by you have 
thought fit to state. One of the greatest lights 
of your Church, indeed, Cardinal Bellarmine,* 
says that " as to external acts of adoration, it 
" is not easy to make distinction ; for, gene- 
" rally speaking, the external acts are common 

* De Sanct. Beat. lib. i. c. 12. 



OMITTED BY MR. BUTLER AND DR. M.ILNER, 



71 



" to every species of worship, and the only 
" exception, the only peculiar rite, to be re- 
" served for the worship of God himself, is 
" sacrifice, and, what is connected with sacri- 
" fice, temples, altars, and priests." 

I will next remark on another part of the 
same omitted clause of the Council's decree, 
that its obvious meaning is to encourage the 
use of images, as the immediate, though not 
the ultimate, objects of religious worship : they 
are to be retained, because the adoration due 
to Christ may be conveniently paid to him, 
through the images which represent him : and 
of course the various acts of devotion, which 
it would be proper to exhibit, if the divine 
Redeemer were personally present, may with 
equal propriety be directed to his images, as 
long as we keep in mind that they are only 
the types and representations of his divinity. 
Such, I say, is the plain meaning of the words 
themselves : but it is made still plainer by the 
well known fact, that both before, and at the very 
time of the Council's sitting, the grand question 
respecting images, which divided the opinions 
of your doctors, was merely this, whether the 
adoration, on all hands allowed to be due to 
images, be entirely relative, entirely referred 
to the prototype, or be not in part objective, 
in part, that is, terminated on the images them- 



72 



DOCTRINE OF THOMAS AQUINAS 



selves, and so "whether there be not an 
" adoration due unto the image dedicated, by 
" virtue of the dedication, besides the reason 
" of the representation." An historian* of that 
council informs us, that " for satisfaction of 
" both parties it was concluded, that the for- 
" mer opinion should be expressed as more 
" facile and plain, but without words, which 
" might prejudice the other." 

The great authority for the opinion, thus fa^ 
voured by the council, was St. Thomas Aquinas, 
whose powers you so highly and so justly extol. 
I do not affect to be deeply versed in his 
writings ; but I have read enough of them to 
bear testimony to the uncommon vigour, and, 
above all, the astonishing acuteness of his 
mind. From his " Summa" I beg leave to 
present you with the following extract, not as 
an authoritative exposition of your Church's 
doctrine ; (for you have not gone so far as to 
acknowledge him such ;) but to prove, that the 
consequence, which I have drawn above from 
the words of the Council of Trent, was in fact 
drawn from the principle there laid down, by 
the greatest of your scholastic divines. 

St. Thomas tells us, that the image of Christ 
receives no reverence as it is a piece of wood, 
or a sculpture, or a picture, for reverence be- 

* Father Paul, p. 745 



ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. 



73 



longs only to a rational being; it is reverenced, 
therefore, as it is an image (that is, as it repre- 
sents a rational being); and since this is the 
case, the reverence paid to the image of Christ 
must be the same, as is paid to Christ himself. 
To prove this doctrine, he answers the objec- 
tions brought against it. First, of the divine 
commandment he says in plain terms, that " it 
" does not forbid the worship of images further 
" than as it forbids the worship of the originals 
if therefore under the Jewish dispensation there 
could have been any image of God, it would 
have been lawful to have worshipped it: " but 
" of an incorporeal God there could be no 

corporeal image. Under the new dispensa- 
" tion, however, as God has been made man, 
" he may now be worshipped in a coiporeal image" 

The second objection he thus states : that 
the apostle forbids us to " have fellowship with 
" the unfruitful works of the Gentiles," and he 
has elsewhere declared, that the worst of these 
unfruitful works was " changing the glory of 
" the incorruptible God into the likeness of an 
" image of corruptible man." To this he an- 
swers, that the adoration of images among the 
Gentiles was an " unfruitful work," and there- 
fore condemned by the apostle, only in two 
ways, first, as some of them adored images, 



74 



THOMAS AQUINAS 



merely on their own account, thinking that a 
divine power resided in them, and secondly, 
when in the images they worshipped the beings 
represented by them, yet because to these 
beings, though themselves only creatures, they 
gave in their images divine adoration. " Now," 
says he, " we offend in neither of these ways, 
" when we give divine adoration to the image of 
" Christ; not in the first, for we do not worship 
" the image on its own account ; not in the 
" second, for the being, whom we worship in 
" the ima°:e, is the true God."* 

Such was the doctrine of St. Thomas. It is 
true, that Cardinal Bellarmine, shocked at the 
length to which he has gone, makes the follow- 
ing very pertinent observation upon it: " To 
*' tell the people that the image of Christ, or 
" that the cross, is to be adored with the wor- 
" ship of latria, the very same with which God 
" is worshipped, is not without great danger: 
" for they who maintain this position, are 
" obliged to use very subtle distinctions, which 
" they themselves hardly understand, much less 
" the unlearned multitude. "| 

It is also true, that St. Thomas's doctrine 
(though in accordance with that of St. Bona- 



* Par. 3. q. 25. art. 3. 



f De Xmag. lib. ii. c. 22. 



AT VARIANCE WITH II. NICENE COUNCIL. 75 

venture, Cardinal Caietan, and others) was in 
direct opposition to a much higher authority 
than any of them, I mean the second Council 
of Nice; the scandal whereof is so great that 
Bellarmine is driven to conjecture,* that St. 
Thomas had never seen the acts of that Coun- 
cil, a supposition which is rather awkward, 
considering that one of the characteristics of a 
General Council is, that " their sound is gone 
" out into all lands, and their word unto the 
" ends of the world ;" and yet, the greatest of 
schoolmen, it seems, five hundred years after 
the Council had sate, was an utter stranger to 
its proceedings ! But awkward as this suppo- 
sition is, it is nevertheless absolutely necessary ; 
otherwise a still more awkward alternative pre- 
sents itself. For either the second Nicene 
Council, approved by Pope Hadrian, accepted 
by the whole Church, and declared to be a 
General Council by the inspired assembly at 
Trent, was no General Council, and so the in- 
fallible Church hath erred; or else St. Thomas, 
the angelic doctor, in spite of his Sainthood, 
aye, and St. Bonaventure too, the seraphic 
doctor, who is declared in the bull of his 
canonization to have discoursed on " these 



* De Imag. lib. ii, c. 22. 



76 



II. NICENE COUNCIL. 



" matters as if the Holy Spirit spoke by his 
" mouth," were no better than rank heretics. 

But it is time to come to the second Nicene 
Council, whose claims to the title of a General 
Council you will not venture to dispute. 

Its doctrine on the worship of images was, 
as I have said, contrary to that of St. Thomas, 
so far as concerns Latria, the highest kind of 
worship, limited by the decree of the Council 
to God alone. This was not to be paid to 
images: they were to receive no more than a 
secondary worship, entitled n^rim 7rgo<r>tvyy)<ns. 
But as this is not a very definite expression, 
it will be necessary to look more minutely into 
the acts of the Council, in order that we may 
understand what the holy fathers meant by it ; 
and, to this end, especially what was the value 
and importance ascribed by them to images. 
I will afterwards adduce some extracts from 
their decrees. 

I am aware, that a very lively and ingenious 
member of your communion, Dr. Lingard, pro- 
tests* against such an inquiry. He says that 
you have nothing to do with the Acts of the 
Council, that you only acknowledge the doc- 
trinal decree passed in its last session. 



* Lingard's Tracts, p. 238. 



ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. 77 

I should be sorry to make either Dr. Lingard 
or yourself answerable for a single particle of 
doctrine which you disclaim. You, as indivi- 
duals, may reject what you please. But my 
inquiry is concerned with the doctrine of your 
Church; and for that I shall not scruple to go 
to those sources which the Church has recog- 
nized. 

I say then, that the acts of this Council, 
generally, and not merely the final decree, are 
recognized by an authority admitted by your- 
self, I mean the Trent Catechism. It is there 
declared, that the second commandment (as we 
call it) forbids the making representations of 
the deity, " as is more largely explained in the 
" second Nicene Council :" # but the explana- 
tion, here referred to, is found in the earlier acts 
of the Council, not in its final decree, where 
not even an allusion to this subject occurs. 

I will presently beg leave to address a few 
words to you, with more particular reference to 
Dr. Lingard ; but, meanwhile, having precluded 
all cavil against the authority of the Acts of 
this Council, I shall proceed to make some ex- 
tracts from them, and from the relations cited 
therein. I do this, I repeat, in order to ascer- 

« 

* Cat. Rom. p. iii. c. ii. s. 11. 



78 IT. XICENE COUNCIL'S TESTIMONIES 

tain what sort of consideration and respect the 
Council had for images, what sort of worship, 
therefore, it meant to enjoin by the term n^rmy 

Now, in the testimonies adduced by the 
Council in favour of the worship of images, 
they are represented in the most honourable 
terms, but certainly not more so than accords 
with the effects ascribed to them. Prayer is 
addressed to them, and answers to these 
prayers are sometimes given from the images 
themselves. Miracles are wrought by them, 
almost as a matter of course. The works of 
our blessed Lord are in some instances studi- 
ously imitated, and the language of the evan- 
gelists copied and travestied. But I will beg 
leave to exhibit two or three specimens of these 
testimonies ; premising that it is expressly said 
that the Council " heard and believed" them, 
and that they are among the principal human 
grounds of their infallible decrees. 

The two first are occurrences of a very ordi- 
nary stamp ; but they are worth adducing on 
account of the authority on which they rest, 
that of " # the most holy Constantine, Bishop 
" of Constantia, in Cyprus," who declares to 

* Labbe, Cone. torn. vii. p. 269. 



IN FAVOUR OF I MAGE-WORSHIP* 79 

the Council, that they happened within his 
own knowledge. 

" A carter went, with his goad in his hand, 
" into one of the Churches in that city to say 
" his prayers. In the midst of his devotions 
" he chanced to see an image of the Virgin in 
" colours on the wall; upon which he lifted up 
" his goad, and struck out the right eye of the 
" figure. On leaving the Church, he returned 
" to his team, and soon afterwards having occa- 
4< sion to use his goad, the instrument broke, a 
" fragment entered his right eye, and blinded 
" him. This man," adds the Bishop, with much 
naivete, " I myself have seen, and I know him 
" to have only one eye" 

" Another man," says the same venerable 
authority, " of the city of Citium, in the same 
" island, being employed to hang a Church 
" with veils in honour of the festival of the 
" blessed Virgin's assumption, in the course of 
ft his work drove a nail into the forehead of an 
" image of St. Peter painted on one of the 
" walls. He fastened his rope, and spread the 
" veil ; but before an hour was over, he was 
" seized with an intolerable pain in his head, 
" particularly in his forehead. This continued 
" the two days of the festival, during which he 
" lay in great torment. It happened, however, 



SO MIRACLES IN FAVOUR OF I M A G E- WOKS H I P. 

" that the Bishop of Citium heard of the oc- 
<f currence; and he, after giving the man a se- 
" vere reprimand, directed him to go and take 
" the nail out of the image. He did so; and, 
" as soon as the nail was extracted, his pain 
" ceased." 

As the Bishop of Citium was himself present 
in Council, he was very properly called upon 
to attest the truth of this narrative, which he 
did without hesitation, on his oath.* 

The next case is read as an extract from the 
life of St. Symeon Stylites, the " pzyoc Qoivpot 
" of the habitable globe," of whom it is further 
stated that images of him were placed in the 
vestibules of all the workshops in Rome, as a 
guard and protection to those who placed 
them.f 

" A Lady of Rhosopolis in Cilicia, by name 
" Theotecna, lived with her husband twenty 
" years, but had the misfortune to be childless. 
" She was indeed, and from her earliest child- 
" hood had been, vexed with a Devil,"(who, from 
what follows, seems to have had some preten- 
sions to her personal preference.) — "At the end 
" of twenty years, her husband, having lost all 
*' patience at so long a disappointment of his 



* Labbe, Cone. torn, vii. p. 209. 



f p. 265. 



SPIRITUAL IMAGE OF A SAINT. 



81 



hopes of issue, dismissed her from his house. 

Luckily for her, she found a Caravan just 
" about to set off on a pilgrimage to St. Symeon ; 
<c and she was but too happy to join the com- 
'* pany. 

" As soon as her devil came within sight of 
" St. Symeon, he gnashed his teeth, and was 
" in the greatest torture, seeing the spiritual 

" Image of the Saint, (rnv TcvivpKTiWv aura a>tei/a) 

" which thus addressed him in a human voice. 
" 6 I'll drive thee from her, thou wicked and 
<e 6 foul fiend, and she shall go back to her hus- 
" ' band, and have a child within a twelve- 
<( 6 month.' — The Devil bellowed in return, ' It 
4( ' is no business of yours : what harm have I 
<e ' ever done to you, that you drive me away 
" 'from my Wife? And you will give them a 
" 6 child too, will you? though she never had 
" ' one to me !" — Saint Symeon, after giving him 
" a good rating, commands him to 6 run off, 
s ' like a vile slave, as he was, and draw water, 
" ' and gather sticks, and be burned all the 
" ' while with a fiery flame.' The words are 
" no sooner out of the saint's mouth, than the 
" Devil begins to do as he is bid, — but with a 
<e very bad grace, roaring and moaning, and 
" jumping about, the whole time. At last, 
" when he had finished the job the Saint had 

G 



82 



MIRACLES WROUGHT BV [MAGES 



" set him, in the presence of all the people, at 
" the sight of a flash of lightning which was 
" coming against him, he set up a fresh howl, 
" and out he came. Immediately, the poor 
" Lady finds herself quite recovered, and re- 
" ceives from St. Symeon the comfortable as- 
" surance, that her husband has had a wonderful 
" change wrought in his heart towards her by 
" the divine interposition. Accordingly she 
" goes home to him, is received with open 
" arms, becomes a joyful mother before the 
" year is out, and lives very happy ever after- 
" wards. 

" In the midst of all her happiness, however, 
" she does not forget her benefactor. At a 
" very early opportunity, she and her husband 
" took their babe with them to shew him to 
" the Saint, and to pour forth their devout 
" acknowledgments of the blessings they owed 
" to him. But their gratitude does not end 
" here : immediately after their return, the Lady, 
" instructed by a special revelation from Hea- 
" ven, set up an image of the Saint in one of 
" the inner apartments of her house: which 
" Image was soon the resort of the whole neigh- 
" bourhood, on account of the astonishing mira- 
" cles which it wrought ; for the Holy Spirit, 
" which dwelt in St. Symeon himself, overshadowed 



IN IMITATION' OK OIK I .Old) s. S.'J 

" this Image of him. In particular, one woman, 
<f having had an issue of blood fifteen years, 
" coming near in faith, departed after seeing the 
" Image, and immediately her issue staunched : 
" for she said within herself if I may but see 
" the likeness of him, I shall be whole."* 

I have thought it necessary, at the risk of 
tiring my readers, to recount this story at full 
length, as illustrating the character I have 
already given of the Council's Hagiography in 
several points at once. Now I am perfectly 
ready to admit to youj" and Dr. Milner,J that 
in our own Church, even after the Reformation, 
belief in the effects of Witchcraft induced some 
of our most pious Bishops, and wisest men, to 
believe, and act on, stories scarcely less absurd 
though certainly none so profane. But there 
is this most important difference in the two 
cases. Our Church, even in its most formal 
Synod, is still a fallible body: from false pre- 
mises it can only come to false conclusions; but 
then, as soon as it has discovered its errors, it 
can freely abandon them. This is a privilege, 
which not a man among us would consent to 

* Compare Matt. ix. 20. and Luke viii. 44. particularly in 
the original. 

f Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 48, 
X End of Controversy, p. 251. 

g2 



84 



THE DEVIL'S HATRED 



barter for that infallibility, which you so loudly 
vaunt; but which, like other high prerogatives, 
is sometimes found by experience to be- pro- 
ductive of serious embarrassment; and never, I 
believe, has the embarrassment been felt more 
serious, than under the necessity of defending 
the antient doctrine of your Church on the 
honour due to Images. You and your Reverend 
Friend adopt the easiest course, by dissembling 
your knowledge of the doctrine which is to be 
defended. 

But I must return to the Council, and exhibit 
one more of its pious histories, principally for 
the sake of a collateral point of some moment, 
which is connected with it. It appears, indeed, 
to have been a great favourite with the Council, 
for it was recited more than once in the course 
of their proceedings, It was also a favourite 
with Cardinal Bellarmine, who, in his ninth 
argument for the worship of Images,* adduces 
this history as an instance of the hatred, which 
the Devil beareth to them. But, really, if the 
Devil is still in that mind; if he is not "now grown 
i( wiser than of yore ;" if, after more than eleven 
centuries of Image-worship by Christians, he 
persisteth in hating Images,-— he is not the cun- 



Beil. de Imag. lib. 2. c. 12. 



TO IMAGES. 



85 



ning Devil the world takes him to be. — But 
for the History,* which was recited from the 
" Limonarium of Sophronius Archbishop of 
" Jerusalem." 

" A certain Hermit was harassed by the 
" daemon of Incontinence. One day, when the 
" Devil was attacking him more furiously than 
" usual, the old man burst into tears, and re- 
" monstrated with his enemy for never leaving 
4t him alone ; but being as hard upon him in 
" his old age, as in the prime and vigour of his 
" youth. On hearing this, the Devil presents 
" himself in a visible shape, and proposes a 
" compromise. * Swear to me,' says he, ' that 
" ' you will tell no one what I am going to say 
« 'to you: and I will have done with you.' 
" The terms are accepted : the old man swears 
" by ' Him who dwelleth in the highest,' that 
" he will never mention it to any one. ( Well 
" ' then,' says the Devil, * do not worship this 
ft f Image,' pointing to one of the blessed Virgin 
" with the Child Jesus in her arms, 4 and I will 
" ' never attack you again.'- — 4 Let me think 
" ' about it,' was the answer ; and so they 
V parted. 

" Next day, the hermit goes to the Abbot 



* Labbe, Con. torn. vii. p. 252, 



86 



OATHS AGAINST IMAGES 



" Theodore, (who himself related the incident 
" to Sophronius,) and tells him all that has 
" passed. ' Upon my word, Father,' says the 
" Abbot, 'you have been finely duped, in taking 
" ' this oath to the Devil. However, you have 
" ' done perfectly right in breaking it, and 
" * telling me your case. As to the main point, 
" ' let me tell you, you had better not leave a 
" * single brothel in this city unvisited, than refuse 
" ' to worship our Lord Jesus with his Mother 
" 'in Image. 7 The good man, comforted and 
" strengthened by this ghostly counsel, departs 
" in peace, and in their next rencontre bids the 
" Devil do his worst." 

On the first recital of this edifying narrative, 
the Synod is filled with more than ordinary 
exultation. The most holy Bishop of Constantia 
exclaims in a fervour of devout zeal : " Like 
i( necklaces of beads of gold is the wonderful 
i( harmony of our inspired fathers in teaching 
■* us to worship Images!'' After him, " the 
" most devout Monk, John, deputy of the Ori- 
<f ental Sees," reminds his brethren, that this 
history of Father Sophronius's not only teaches 
them to worship Images, but also contains a 
further lesson, that it is right to break an oath 
made for their subversion. " I say this," says 
he, " because there are persons, who make a 



NOT TO BE KEPT. 



87 



** pretence of their Oaths." So ridiculous a 
plea is treated with deserved contempt ; the 
conduct of the Hermit is compared to St. Peter a 
denial of our Saviour with an oath, and afterwards 
repenting; and in a word, the absurdity of the 
scruple is deemed so very manifest, that Tara- 
sius, patriarch of Constantinople, cuts short the 
pious eloquence of some other Fathers, who 
were about to enlarge upon it. 

It is but justice to the liberality of the Council, 
to state, that the quality of the personage, to 
whom the Hermit had taken his oath, is not 
permitted to affect the argument. They are 
determined solely by the matter of the Hermit's 
oath, as it involved a renunciation of the worship 
of Images : so that to my protestant readers 
the judgment of these holy Fathers may be 
more simply stated thus ; it is a greater Sin to 
keep the second commandment, than to break the 
third and the seventh. 

After the various passages have been read, of 
which I have just giveu a sample,*' the Session 

* Besides these legends, there are also some other authorities 
produced : 1st, some texts of Scripture, as Heb. xi. 21 . Exodus 
xxv. 18. Ezekiel xli. 18. Heb. ix. 5. and several passages 
from the Psalms. These texts are so very little to the purpose, 
that it would be a waste of time to remark on them. 2. Some 
passages from authors entitled to respect, (Chrysostom, Cyril, 



88 



ANATHEMAS AGAINST THOSE 



of the day concludes with this exclamation of 
the whole Synod. " The* Instructions of the 
" Fathers, speaking with the mouth of God, 
" have set us right. From them we have drawn 
" and drunk the words of truth. Following 
" them, we have expelled falsehood. Taught 
" by them, we embrace the venerable Images. 
" Let those who do not so, 'be Anathema,' be 
"cat off from God:" for such is the force of 
Anathema, according to the Council's express 
definition. Among other Anathemas are the 
following, against all who do not call Images 
holy and sacred, — against all, who apply to 
them the declarations of Scripture against Idols, 
— against all who insult or dishonour them, — 
against all who knowingly communicate with 
such,-}" — against all who do not worship Images, 
or who doubt of, or are disaffected to the ivorship 

Gregory of Nyssa,) which prove indeed that there were pictures 
in existence, but give not the remotest hint of their being em- 
ployed in worship. 3. A spurious epistle from Basil the great 
to Julian the apostate, in which the Roman doctrine is roundly 
maintained. But unfortunately it is made to prove too much ; 
it is indeed so palpable and clumsy a forgery, that even Ro- 
manists themselves will not venture to assert its genuineness. — 
These several authorities, however, occupy a very inconsiderable 
share of the Council's attention, which is chiefly given to the 
edifying tales, of which I have spoken above. 

* Page 317. f Page 317. 



WHO OPPOSE IMAGE- WORSHIP. 89 

of them? And the Council, in making these 
Anathemas, pronounces itself " secured from 
" error by the energy of the Holy Ghost, and 
" by the Traditions of the Fathers and the 
" Church." 

I am sorry to have also to tell you, that you 
yourself seem to have fallen under the Council's 
malediction: for you tell us, that you only 
" venerate the Images of Saints as memorials, 
" that bring their virtues and rewards to our 
" minds and hearts. "t Indeed, if the gift of 
prophecy, as well as those of wisdom and of 
knowledge, were claimed for these holy Fathers, 
I should suppose that, in the following passage, 
they were directly forewarning the more ortho- 
dox believers against the delusions of the mo- 
dern champions of your Church. " As for them 
~*f who say it is sufficient to have Images for the 
" sake of exciting their livelier remembrance of 
" the prototypes, and not for worship, as they 
is reject one part of the truth, and admit the 
" other, they are j^pauXoi, half-bad, \J/£u<^a>i0«?> 
f* speakers of truth and falsehood, in a breath. 
" Alas their madness!" This madness, how- 
ever, does not protect them from being included 

* Page 584. 
t Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 103, 



\ 



90 IMAGES CONFER SANCTIFICATION. 

in the general anathema, which is repeated 
pretty often in the course of these proceedings. 

One word more. In one of the most formal 
of all the Council's decrees, to which all the 
Fathers separately subscribed, at the end of the 
Actio quarta, it is expressly pronounced that 
Images are retained and worshipped, " not only 
4< that by memory we may ascend to the proto- 
" type, but also, that ive may be made partakers 
" of some sanctification"* It is afterwards said, 
that " by worshipping them and giving them 
" honorary adoration, ive actually do partake of 
" sanctification."* — Lastly, after telling the peo- 
ple, that it is of no consequence by what name 
the worship paid to Images be called, be it sa- 
lutation or adoration, (provided that latria, the 
highest kind, which is due only to God, be not 
understood by it,) there is the following exhor- 
tation. " However let every one take care that 
" he be worthy of making this adoration: if he be 
" not worthy, let him first purify himself and so 
" let him come to the holy representative Image."* 

And thus much for the II. Nicene Council ; 
— a Council, be it remembered, whose inspira- 
tion must be as strenuously maintained by you, 
as any, or every, part of your whole system; — 



* Labbc, Con. toni. vii. p. 540. 



THE TRUE CROSS. 



5)1 



a Council, on whose perfect infallibility, in its 
decrees, the infallibility of your Church, and all 
its other high pretensions, absolutely depend, 
— with it, that Church itself must stand or fall. 

From this view of the doctrine of your Church 
on the worship of Images, I turn to its autho- 
rized and prescribed practice, as set forth in 
your public Liturgy. 

There are two festivals appointed in honour 
of the true Cross, one to commemorate its dis- 
covery, an event, to which, we are told in the 
lesson of the day, Helena, Mother of the Em- 
peror Constantine, was led by a Revelation 
made to her in a dream; — the other in honour 
of its recovery by the Emperor Heraclius, four- 
teen years after it had been carried away into 
Persia by the victorious Chosroas. The identity 
of the Cross is stated, on both occasions, to 
have been ascertained by miracles. In the 
former instance, three Crosses having been 
found together, nearly three hundred years 
after the Crucifixion, — and it being uncertain, 
on which of the three our Lord was suspended, 
— they were all applied in succession to the 
body of a Woman labouring under a violent 
disease. The application of two of the three 
was utterly without effect: but, immediately, 



92 



ADORATION OF 



on the third touching her, she was healed. It 
is afterwards declared, that " at the touch of 
" the Cross the dead are recalled to life, and 
" the mighty things of God made known."* 

In the services of both days a Hymn is sung, 
one stanza of which is literally translated thus : 

Hail o Cross, our only hope, 

In this Paschal festivity, 
Bring to the pious an increase of righteousness* 
And to Sinners grant pardon of their Sins.t 

It appears from Bellarmine,J that on this 
Hymn many of your most distinguished divines 
(among them St. Thomas,§ St. Bonaventure, 
and Cardinal Caietan) grounded the notion 
which they held, that the highest kind of wor- 
ship, Latria, is due to Images of Christ. In 
order to remove the force of their argument, 
Bellarmine is pleased to say, " either the Cross 

* Brev. Rom. In die Invent, sanctae Cruris, lect. v. 
f O Crux ave, spes unica, 

In hoc Paschali gaudio 
Auge piis justitiacn, 
Reisque dona veniam. 

* Bell, de Imag. 1. 2. c. 20. 

§ The opinions of St. Thomas seem to be recognized as 
worthy of peculiar respect : for the following is the language 
of a Prayer addressed to him in the Breviary on his Festival, 
?th of March 3 " Doctor opti?nc, Ecchs'ue sanctct lumen, beate 
" Thoma, divinae legis amator, deprecare pro nobis filium Dei." 



THE CROSS. 



93 



c< is here taken for Christ himself crucified' 1 ; or 
else the address is merely a metaphorical pro- 
sopopoeia, as Moses (Deut. xxxii.) cries out, 
" Hear, O ye Heavens, and I will speak.'' 

But it is obvious to reply, that as, by Bellar- 
mine's own statement, it is not clear which of 
these solutions is the true one, so neither can it 
be certain that either of them is ; at any rate 
the multitude can only be expected to take the 
words in their plain meaning — a meaning so 
plain as not only to demand the assent, but also 
(as we have seen) to be made the foundation of 
the judgment, of many of your divines. 

But to proceed : the hymn is followed by an 
Address to the Cross in prose — " O Cross, more 
" resplendent than all the stars, &c. &c. save 
" this present congregation assembled in thy 
"praises. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!*' 

Afterwards the Priest says, " We adore thy 
" Cross, O Lord, and celebrate thy passion : by 
" whom," &c. 

If it be said that this is not properly an in- 
stance of Image- worship, being the worship of 
the true Cross, the following honours paid to 
the Images of this true Cross may be worth 
reciting. 

My first instance shall be taken from the Ro- 



94 



ADORATION' OF THE CROSS. 



man Missal.* " The Priest receives from the 
" Deacon a Cross prepared for him, and turning 
" towards the people, uncovers a part of it from 
" the top, beginning alone; ■ Behold the wood 
<f 6 of the Cross' — the choir sing ' Come, let us 
H ' adore'; and, while this is singing, all the 
" congregation throw themselves prostrate. 

Then the Priest uncovers more and more of the 
" Cross, raising it by slow degrees higher than 
" it was at first :— -the Antiphonema proceeds, 
" 6 Behold the wood of the Cross, on which 
" ' the salvation of the world was suspended ; 
" c come, let us adore.' This is thrice repeated. 
" Then the Priest, uncovering the whole of the 
" Cross, and laying it in its place before the 
** altar, takes off his shoes, and draws near to adore, 
" thrice bowing his knees before kissijig the Ci^oss. 
" He then returns to the seat, and puts on his 
" shoes again. Afterwards, the ministers of the 
" altar, and the rest in succession, thrice bow- 
" ing their knees, as aforesaid, adore the Cross 
" (crucem adorant). They afterwards sing, 
f< £ We adore thy Cross, O Lord,' &c. The ado- 
" ration of the Cross being finished, the Deacon 
<f reverently receives the Cross, and carries it 
" back to the altar." 



Feria 6, in Parasceve Domini. 



BENEDICTION OF A CRUCIFIX. 



95 



My next citation shall be from the Pontificale 
Romanum* 44 De Benedictione novse Crucis." 

44 A new Cross, or tablet on which is depicted 
" the Crucifix, is blessed in this manner: — 
" Frankincense, and a censer, with fire and 
44 holy- water, being prepared, the Pontiff, stand- 
44 ing with his mitre on his head, says," here 
follow some prayers, of which this is one : — - 
44 4 We beseech Thee, Holy Lord, Almighty 
44 ' Father, everlasting God, to vouchsafe to 
" * bless this wood of thy Cross, that it may be 
" * a saving remedy to mankind, — that it may 
44 4 be to them the strengthening of faith, the in- 
44 4 crease of good works, and the redemption of 
44 4 their souls, — that it may be their comfort, 
44 4 protection and defence, against the cruel 
44 4 darts of their enemies, through our Lord 
44 4 Jesus Christ." &c. 

44 Then frankincense is offered to the Pontiff 
44 in a vessel," which he blesses in a formal 
prayer ; 44 which being done, the Pontiff puts 

* Pontificale Romanum, Clementis VIII. ef Urbani VIII. 
jussu editum, a Benedicto XIV. recog. et castigatum. Venetiis, 
1786. 

This book is not, like the Breviary and the Missal, mentioned 
in the Decree of the Council of Trent; but it is of undoubted 
authority, " ad omnes Pontificias Caeremonias, quibus nunc 
utitur sacrosancta E. R. accommodatum." It is cited as such 
by Bossuet, " Exposition," sect v. 



96 



BENEDICTION OF A CRUCIFIX. 



" the frankincense into the censer ; he then 
" sprinkles the Cross with holy-water, and 
" afterwards censes it. Then, standing un- 
" covered, he says, ' Blessed be this wood, in the 
" 6 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
(i ' Holy Ghost : and may the blessing of that 
" 9 wood, on which the holy members of our 
" 9 Saviour were suspended, be in this wood, 
" 6 that they who pray and bow themselves propter 
" ' Deum before this Cross may find sanctification 
" ' both of body and soul, through the same 
" ' Jesus Christ our Lord/ 

" Then the Pontiff, kiieeling before the Cross, 
"devoutly adores it and kisses it the same is 
" done by as many others as will. 

" Then follows a long prayer to be made in 
" case the Cross is of metal ; in which, among 
" other things, our Lord is thus besought: — 
<c 6 Accept this Cross with those hands, with 
" 6 which thou didst embrace that' on which 
" thou sufferedst : ■ and out of the sanctity of 
" ' that Cross, sanctify this ; and, as by that 
" ' the world was delivered from all guilt, so let 
" 6 the very devout souls of thy servants, who 
<f 6 now offer, by the merit of this cross be 

* " Turn Pontifex, flexis ante Crucera genibus, ipsam devote 
u adorat, et osculatur." 



OF AN IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN. 



97 



" ' freed from every sin committed by them,' 
" &c. Afterwards, the Pontiff, kneeling before 
<e the Cross, devoutly adores it, and kisses it." 

In the same Pontificale, the very next parti- 
cular is " The form of blessing an Image of the 
" Virgin' ; in which, after singing a prayer to 
the Virgin herself, (before cited by me from the 
Breviary,) " To thy protecting care we fly, O 
" Holy Mother of God ; despise not our prayers 
" in our necessities, but from all dangers 
" always deliver us, O Virgin, glorious and 
" blessed," the Pontiff prays to God in terms, 
which I shudder while I transcribe : — " Al- 
" mighty, everlasting God, by whose most mer- 
" ciful providence all things are created out 
e< of nothing, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify this 
" Image , prepared in vejieration to the honour of 
" the most pious Mother of thy Son our Lord 
" Jesus Christ: and grant, O most merciful 
" Father, by the invocation of thy name, and of 
" the name of the same thy only-begotten Son 
" our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to thy 
" will, was incarnate for the salvation of man- 
" kind of the ever- Virgin Mary— quatenus* 
" precibus ejusdem sacratissimae virginis, that 

* I give these words in the original, not seeing exactly how 
to render them. 

H 



98 



THK CROSS 



" whoever shall strive suppliantly to honour 
" the same Queen of Mercy, and our most 
" gracious Lady, before this Image, may both 
" be rescued from impending dangers, and in 
" the sight of thy Divine Majesty may obtain 
" pardon of all their sins, and may likewise 
" acquire in the present life that grace which 
" they long for, and in the world to come may 
" rejoice with thy elect in everlasting salvation, 
" through the same our Lord." 

And now, Sir, permit me to ask you, whether 
the doctrine of your Church respecting Images 
be merely what the works cited by you state it 
to be? Are the devotions, which we have been 
examining, what Dr. Milner means by " the 
" decent inspect, which," he says, " Roman- 
" Catholics shew to the memorials of Chris- 
" tianity"*? Will he any longer persist in main- 
taining, that " the end for which pious pictures 
" and images are made and retained in your 
" Church, is the same for which pictures and 
" images are made and retained by mankind in ge- 
" neral — to put us in mind of the persons and 
" things they represent"? and that <f the relative 
" veneration to which they are entitled" is no 
other than " the honour which Protestants 

* End of Controversy, p. 254. 



AND IMAGES. 



99 



" themselves pay to the Bible, the name of 
Jesus, and even to the King's throne"?* 
If, indeed, your doctrine were only this, 
could it so often have led its followers to the 
practice of direct idolatry ? Or could the rulers 
of your Church have hesitated one instant to 
forbid all Images, when the use of them was so 
little necessary, and the abuse so common and 
so tremendous? If it were only this, could car- 
dinals, and popes, and saints, have so grossly 
misconceived, or so impiously perverted it? If 
it were only this, could the assembled piety 
and wisdom of the universal Church; above all, 
could that Holy Spirit, whom the Lord of life 
and love sent into the world to bless, to com- 
fort, and to support his children— could He, 
guiding by his secret influence the decisions of 
a general council, condemn the impugners of 
such a doctrine to eternal torments? Could He, 
for so slight an error, have shut us out from all 
hopes of mercy, have denied us all share in our 
Redeemer's merits, made us outcasts from his 
love, and aliens from his inheritance ? Is it thus 
his blessed promise is fulfilled, that " even the 
" bruised reed he will not break, and the 
" smoaking flax he will not quench"? Has that 



End of Controversy, pp. 258, 259. 
h2 



100 



THE CROSS AXD IMAGES. 



Holy Spirit told us, that " we shall not make 
" to ourselves any graven image, nor the like- 
" ness of any thing in heaven, in earth, or under 
" the earth ; that we shall not bow down to 
" them nor worship them ;" and does the same 
Spirit cut us off for ever, if yet we scruple to 
respect and venerate them? Is the exact mea- 
sure of observance due to Images, by the will 
of God, so very nice, so very delicately poised, 
and yet is mistake on either side big with dan- 
ger to our soul's salvation ? 

Will you dare to answer these questions in 
the affirmative? If you will not, you must 
acknowledge, that the representation of your 
Church's doctrine, made by your modern apo- 
logists, is, in this instance, false and deceitful. 



( 101 ) 



LETTER IV. 

Dr. Lingard. His unfaithfulness in quotation. 

In enquiring, in my last letter, into the Acts 
of the II. Nicene Council, I said that " Dr. 
" Lingard protests altogether against such en- 
" quiry, and declares that your Church acknow- 
" ledges only the Council's doctrinal decree 
" passed in its last session." In answer to this 
statement, I then satisfied myself with shewing, 
that the previous Acts of the Council are 
admitted, as authoritative, even by the Trent 
Catechism. But, as this Council's proceedings 
have been found very important in my view of 
the doctrine of your Church respecting Images, 
I now think it right to give more particular 
attention to Dr. Lingard's assertions, and shall 
thus at the same time fulfil my promise of ad- 
dressing to you a few words respecting Dr. Lin- 
gard himself. 

That gentleman is, I believe, among the most 
distinguished living writers of your Church. 
By yourself he is repeatedly mentioned in 
terms of very high respect : for although he is 
not cited as one of your Vouchers for the doc- 



102 



DR. LINGARD. 



trines of your Church, yet, as an historian, he is 
warmly commended by you, more especially 
for his accuracy and precision, and for " con- 
" stantly citing the authorities upon which his 
" relations are founded."* It is said, indeed, 
by those who have read his history, (I am not 
in that number,) that the main part of your his- 
torical facts are derived from him. 

It is plain, therefore, on all these accounts, 
that it will be by no means a superfluous labour, 
to dwell a little more at large on the manner in 
which he has treated the II. Nicene Council. 
The result may not only be useful in establish- 
ing more fully the authority of that Council's 
Acts, a matter of much moment in the enquiry 
in which I am engaged : — but it may also afford 
a specimen of the method, in which your mo- 
dern ecclesiastical historian disposes of sub- 
jects, which are not quite agreeable to him; and 
may thus assist his readers in estimating the 
value of his authority in all questions of doubt- 
ful evidence. 

I have said that I am not in the number of 
those who have read Dr. Lingard's history; 
and I will frankly tell you my reason. 

It happened to me, several years ago, to be 



* " Book," &c. p. 28. note, and p. 193. 



HIS UNFAITHFULNESS IN QUOTATION. 103 

engaged in a controversy with him, — the attack 
and defence of a charge delivered by the pre- 
sent Bishop of Durham : and, on that occasion, 
I had so frequent opportunities of experiencing 
the very peculiar use, which he thinks himself 
at liberty to make, of the writings of antient 
authors, that I felt no inclination to sit down to 
a work of his, the merit of which must entirely 
depend on his faithfulness to the authorities 
which he cites. 

In the course of our controversy, I made 
pretty copious extracts from the Acts of the 
II. Nicene Council, (of which, indeed, I have 
not scrupled to avail myself in my preceding- 
letter to you) : and in his answer, which closed 
the controversy, he makes the statement to 
which I have before referred. " The Acts of 
" this Council" says he, " are of no authority in 
" the Catholic Church. We assent, indeed, to 
" the doctrinal decree passed in the last session, 
" which was approved by the Popes: but in the 
" Acts and Canons much is contained to which the 
" Roman Church would never impart its sanction. 
" Quce apud nos nec habentur, nec admittuntur, 
" says Anastasius Bibliothecarius, a Roman 
" writer of the same age."* 



* Ling-aid's Tract?, p. 238, 



104 



DR. LINGAUD. 



This passage was not much regarded by me 
at the time when I first read it ; and I never 
reverted to it, till my attention was recalled to 
these matters by my present correspondence 
with you. I then determined to investigate the 
grounds of a statement, which I was confident 
was unfounded, but which I never before had 
thought worth examining. I now proceed 
to give you the result of my enquiries. It 
will be found, that not a single point, whether 
affirmed, or insinuated, in the passage which I 
have cited from Dr. Lingard, (except your 
Church's admission of the final Decree of the 
Council,) is there truly stated by him. 

First, Dr. Lingard is pleased to say of his 
alleged authority, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, 
in order to give the greater weight to his testis 
mony, that he was " a Roman author of the same 
" age' with the Council. Now, so far is this 
from being the case, that the Tract of Anasta- 
sius, from which Dr. Lingard makes his quota- 
tion, is inscribed to Pope John VIII., who did 
not succeed to the Papal Chair till near a 
hundred years later.* 

In the next place, Dr. Lingard is so good as 

* The Council sate A. D. 787 ; John VIII. was elected 
Pope A.D. 8/3. vich Baron. Ann. 



HIS UNFAITHFULNESS IN QUOTATION. 105 

to give us the testimony of Anastasius to -this 
alleged fact, that " in the Acts and Canons of 
" the Council much is contained to which the 
" Roman Church would never impart its sanc- 
" tion; qua apud nos nec habentur, nec admittun- 
" tur." Now, viewing this representation in 
the most favourable light, it is exactly of that 
kind which a man of real veracity would scorn 
to make ; but which one, who halted between 
the inclination to mis-state and the fear of 
being exposed in his dishonesty, might bring 
himself to fancy at once serviceable and safe. 

The words of Anastasius (to which, by the 
way, Dr. Lingard with all his accuracy in citing 
authorities, gives us no further clue than the 
name of the author) occur in a very short 
" Preface to the Seventh Synod" (the second 
Nicene) interpreted and edited by him. He 
was, as his title denotes, the Pope's librarian, 
and, by virtue of that office, had access to all 
the Papal records and monuments. He had 
translated the eighth General Council, and 
thought it, therefore, unfit, that the seventh, 
should remain locked up either in the original, 
or in an existing translation which was so very 
bad, as to be hardly intelligible. In the course 
of his further observations, he says, as follows; 
" Sane notandum est, qusedam in hac Synodo 



106 



DR. LINGARD. 



" ex Apostolorum et Sextan Universalis Synodi Ca- 
" nonibus et Sententiis inveniri, quae penes nos 
" interpretata nec habentur, nec admittuntur." 

This sentence contains the raw material, out 
of which Dr. Lingard has wrought a main part 
of his very ingenious statement. On comparing 
the two passages, it will be perceived, that much 
of what is most important in the original is 
loosely slurred over by Dr. Lingard, and, in par- 
ticular, that the word interpretata, which could 
not be made to accord with his views, is actu- 
ally struck out of the clause which he professes 
to cite verbatim. But in order to make the 
whole case better understood, I will beg leave 
to state the following facts connected with it. 

Neither in the fifth, nor in the sixth General 
Councils, were any Canons set forth. To sup- 
ply this defect, certain Prelates (some of whom 
had sate in the sixth Council) met in a Council, 
called, from its purpose, " Quinisextum;"* they 
there set forth Canons, and said that these 
Canons had before been passed at the sixth 
General Council. This (< Concilium Quini- 
sextum," not having been duly summoned, and 
its acts not having received the approbation of 
the Pope, was never acknowledged at Rome. 



* UtfOiKrn} fifth -sixth. 



HIS UNFAITHFULNESS IN QUOTATION. 107 

Nevertheless, the Greeks, as appears from what 
Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, says in 
the fourth Actio of the second Nicene Council, 
received these Canons as Canons of the sixth 
General Council. 

The Latins were not so ready to own them 
by that name, nor, indeed, to give them any 
sanction whatever. But as the seventh Gene- 
ral, or second Nicene Council, adopting some 
of these Canons, and thus giving to them the 
sanction of the Church, calls them Canons of 
the sixth General Council, Anastasius thinks it 
necessary to explain what must otherwise seem 
very strange to his Latin readers, and this he 
does in the passage cited above. " It is wor- 
" thy of remark," says Anastasius, that " there 
" are found in this Council some things from the 
Apostolic Canons, and from the Canons and 
" Decisions of the sixth General Council, which 
" are not contained in the documents of that 
<f Council which we have in our possession 
" (penes nos), translated into Latin, (interpre- 
tata,*) nor are they admitted by us." He then 
speaks of both the Apostolic and the other 
Canons, and says, that John VIII. had now 

* That this is his meaning, is made still plainer by what he 
says a little afterwards, incognita quia nec interpretative. 



108 



BR. LIXGARD. 



admitted all the Canons of all Popes, Fathers, 
and Councils, which had preceded him, pro- 
vided they were not contrary to faith and mo- 
rals. " Therefore," he adds, " the Rules which 
" the Greeks say were set forth by the sixth 
" Council, the See of Rome admits in such 
" manner in this seventh Council, that still 
" those of them which contradict former ca- 
" nons or decrees of Popes, or sound morals, 
" are in no measure received but it is mani- 
fest, that those which are admitted by the 
seventh Council, and have thus the authority of 
the Church given to them, are not in the re- 
jected class; nor, indeed, till this bold attempt 
of Dr. Lingard, were they ever pretended to be. 

Does this sufficiently establish the unfairness 
of this writer, his intentional garbling, his gross 
misrepresentation of the passage which he cites? 
will it be contended, that he has erred through 
inadvertence, or in ignorance? This can hardly 
be believed: for neither inadvertence, nor ig- 
norance, can account for the omission of a 

* " Ergo regulas, quas Grasci a sexta synodo perbibent editas, 
ita in bac synodo principalis Sedes admittit, ut nullatenus ex bis 
illae recipiantmv, quae prioribus canonibus vel decretis sanctorum 
Sedis bujus pontincum, aut certe bonis moribus inveniuntur ad- 
verse." Labbe, Concil. t. vii. p. 30. 



HIS UNFAITHFULNESS IN QUOTATION. 109 

part of the words of his author, so important, 
that the sense of the passage is wholly sub- 
verted by the omission. 

But I pass to another part of the case. Dr. 
Lingard directly affirms, that " the Acts of this 
" Council," as contradistinguished from " the 
" doctrinal decree passed in the last session," 
" are of no authority in the Catholic Church' 1 
I defy him to produce evidence of this asser- 
tion. Meanwhile, not only does the Catechism 
of the Council of Trent, as we have already 
seen, recognise those acts; but Bellarmine, in 
his book " de Conciliis," reckons the second 
Nicene Council as the seventh of those " eigh- 
" teen of which there is not one, that is not 
" approved by the Pope, and received by 
" Catholics and this extends to the whole 
of the Acts of these eighteen, not to any parti- 
culars only : for he next specifies in a different 
class those which are " partly confirmed, partly 
rejected,"! as tne Council of Constance, a part 
only of whose sessions is accepted, and the 
" Concilium Quinisextum," whose Canons, 
though the Pope was not present at it either in 
person, or by his Legates, are " partly ap- 
" proved, because they have afterwards had 



* Bellan.ii. de CohciL c. a. 



f lb. c, 7. 



110 



DR. LING A ft©. 



" the approbation of the Pope, or of other law- 
?* ful Councils, such, for instance, as its eighty- 
" second Canon ' de pingendis Imaginibus? which 
" was received by Pope Adrian and the seventh 
" Synod (the second Nicene), as appears from that 
" very Synod, Act two and four" 

Thus does your greatest and most learned 
divine recognise the authority of these acts of 
the second Nicene Council, as a matter of 
course. Indeed, he elsewhere says, " Si ergo 
" ullum est Concilium generale legitimum, certe 
te hoc est;* a declaration of no trifling import- 
ance to my argument, not only as against Dr. 
Lingard, but also as fixing on your Church the 
full responsibility for all this Council's proceed- 
ings. 

But Dr. Lingard's delinquencies do not end 
here. He insinuates (and an honest man ought 
to feel, that to insinuate what is untrue is as 
bad as to affirm it) — Dr. Lingard, I say, insi- 
nuates, that only " the doctrinal decree passed 
" in the last session," not the acts of this Coun- 
cil at its other sessions, " was approved by the 
" Popes." 

This is as utterly unfounded as the rest. It 
is true, we learn from Bellarmine, that it had 



* De Tmag. 1. ii. p.SOfi. 



HIS UNFAITHFULNESS IN QUOTATION. 1 I 1 



been asserted in the very age of the Council, 
that it had not the approbation of the Pope; 
but this assertion extended to the whole of the 
Council's proceedings, including its final de- 
cree ; it would, therefore, if true, prove too 
much for Dr. Lingard's purpose; — nay, it went 
further ; for it was accompanied with a charge 
against the Council of maintaining a doctrine, 
the very contrary to what is declared in that 
final decree, namely, that Latria is due to 
Images. How, therefore, does Bellarmine treat 
these averments? These are his words: " Verb 
" mendacia esse, et qudd Sy nodus Niccena caruerit 
" Papce Auctoritate, et quod decreverit imagines 
" adorandas cultu latriae, certissimum est? 
" For," says he, " in this very Council, Act 2, 
" are recited the letters of Adrian in favour of 
" Images, and in all the Acts the Legates of 
" Rome are the first who subscribe their 
" names."* 

Lastly, there is actually stronger and more 
•particular evidence of the approbation of the Pope 
having been given to the Acts of this Cowicil, 
than to those of any other Council whatsoever. 
For, in the very volume^ from which Dr. Lin- 
gard cites his passage from Anastasius, there is a 

* Bellarm. de Imag. 1. ii. p. 806. f Labb. Concil. t. vii. 



112 



dR. LINGARD. 



long defence of the Acts of the Council, extending 
to particulars which occur in every one of the 
Acts separately, addressed to Charlemagne by 
the very Pope Adrian I., who by his Legates 
presided at it. 

I have here done with Dr. Lingard; and am 
sorry that I have been obliged to detain you 
so long with this discussion respecting him ; 
a discussion which, I fear, not even the interest 
excited in you for the reputation of a friend, 
can have wholly prevented from being tedious. 
Perhaps, however, you will by this time un- 
derstand, why I now attend " not to what Dr. 
" Lingard may say, but to what he may prove:" 
and that to a history by that writer I do not 
attend at all. 

Let us pass to something else. 



( 113 ) 



LETTER V. 

Of Purgatory. — Doctrine of the Council of Trent. — 
Trent Catechism. — Council of Florence. — Bellarmine. 
— Histories respecting Purgatory. 

Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead you 
express your intention of saying little, because 
" you are not writing a work of controversy." 
You therefore content yourself with citing a 
part of the decree of the Council of Trent, 
" that there is a purgatory, and that the souls 
" detained in it are helped by the suffrages of 
" the faithful ;" and what you are pleased to 
call an explanation of " the nature and extent 
" of these suffrages by Saint Augustine."* 

Now, Sir, as you have undertaken to " state 
" the doctrine of your Church, though in the 
" shortest manner possible, on these heads, "f 
I must profess my disappointment, that you 
consider yourself as having redeemed your 
pledge by the extremely brief information con- 
tained in the words quoted above. I am aware, 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 104. 
t Page 99. 

I 



114 



DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 



that Dr. Milner says,* that " all which is ne- 
" cessary to be believed" by Roman-Catholics 
is contained in your statement, — that " there 
" are only two points denned by your Church, 
" namely, that there is a middle state which you 
" call Purgatory," and that " the Souls detained 
" in it are helped by the prayers of the living 
" faithful." But whatever you and he may 
think necessary to be believed, I must take the 
liberty of saying, that much more is actually 
required by the Church of Rome; and this I 
shall proceed to prove from authorities, to which 
you have yourself referred. 

I will begin with endeavouring to set in a 
clearer light the passage of the Council of Trent 
which is made the ground of your and Dr. 
Milner's statement. For you really have no 
right to say, (as you do by implication, and Dr. 
Milner in express terms,) that that passage 
contains all which your Church has defined on 
this subject. The words of that passage itself, 
faithfully quoted, will be found to look to other 
things. Its real purport is as follows ; " since 
" the Catholic Church, instructed by Scripture, 
" and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, J hath 

* End of Controversy, p. 31 1 and 313. 
f Qualis et seq. Dist. xxv. 



RESPECTING FURGATORV. 



I 15 



*' taught ill sacred Councils, and most recently 
" in this general Council,* that there is a Purga- 
" tory,t and that the Souls detained there are 
" helped by the suffrages of the faithful, espe- 
" cially by the sacrifice of the altar ; the holy 
" Council enjoins the Bishops to take diligent 
" care that the sound doctrine on the subject of Pur- 
" gator y taught by the holy Fathers and sacred 
" Councils be believed by the faithful, be held, 
" taught, and every where preached. "J 

Now what is " the sound doctrine" here 
alluded to, c( taught by the holy Fathers, and 
" sacred Councils"? In answering this ques- 
tion I will pursue the following method : I will 
state what is defined, first respecting Purgatory 
itself; secondly, respecting the persons detained 
in it; and thirdly, respecting the reasons for 
which they are detained. Having done this, I 
will look for confirmation of my statement and 
for more particular information to that divine, 
who is proclaimed by Dr. Milner to be " your 
" great Controvertist," pre-eminent, even to a 

* Sess. xxii. cap. 2. and can. 3. f Sess. vi. can. 30. 

+ Sess. xxv. The more difficult and subtle questions,, and 
those which lead not to edification, the uncertain points and 
those which are suspected of being false, are not to be published 
to the multitude, and those which savour of base lucre are to 
be altogether prohibited. 

I 2 



116 



DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 



proverb, for the " depth of his learning, and 
" the strength of his argument/ 1 still more for 
his " preciseness ;"* and who is accordingly 
quoted by hinr| as authority for explaining the 
doctrines of your Church respecting Indul- 
gences; — I mean, Cardinal Bellarmine. To 
him I say, I shall refer, as an undeniable evi- 
dence of what was considered at Rome, in the 
very age in which the Council sate, and after 
it had passed its decree respecting Purgatory, 
to be the sound doctrine which the Council 
required to be taught on this subject. 

First, then, Purgatory is declared by the 
Catechism^ of the Council of Trent, (and conse- 
quently by the Council itself,) to be a place, 
not merely a state, of suffering, — not merely, 
therefore, of internal suffering, from the con- 
sciousness of having offended against the laws 
of God, — nor " poena damni," as has been main- 
tained by some, — but also of external inflictions. 
The same Catechism also tells us, that it is 
(what Dr. Milner nevertheless says your Church 
does not require to be believed§) a Fire, " ignis 
" purgatorius," so called to distinguish it from 
the eternal Fire or Gehenna, the place of punish- 

* Page 261. f P. 306. 

X Cat. Rom. p. i. de art. vi. c. 6. 13. 

§ At least not a a material fire." End of Controversy, p. 313. 



HESPECTING PURGATORY. 



117 



ment of damned spirits. And so important an 
article of faith does the Catechism regard it, 
that the Clergy are there particularly enjoined 
to be the more diligent and frequent in enforcing 
its truth, " confirmed as it is by the Fathers 
" and Apostolic tradition/' — " because we have 
" fallen on times in which Men do not endure 
" sound doctrine." For the intensity of the 
pains of this fire we are referred to an authority 
in the margin of the Council's decree at the 
word " Fathers," I mean the Canon Law (Dist. 
25, qualis et seq.) which says that " this Fire, 
" though not eternal, is yet painful in a won- 
" drous degree: It surpasses every punishment 
" which any one ever suffered in this life." — 
Such is Purgatory itself. 

In the second place, of the Souls of those 
• confined and " tortured for a definite period" 
in this dreadful fire, the Catechism declares, 
that they are Souls of pious men, " piorum 
animae:" the Council itself states that they are 
Souls of truly penitent and justified Sinners;* and 
an equally high authority, the general Council 
of Florence, in its final doctrinal decree, pro- 
nounces them to be souls of " those who, having 
" truly repented, die in the love of God.""\ 

* Sess. vi. c. 30. f Lcibbe, Concil. torn. xii*. 



118 



DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 



But not all pious Souls, — not all truly peni- 
tent and justified Sinners, — not all who die in 
the love of God, — but by far the greatest part 
of them ; those, in short, (and this answers our 
third inquiry, icliy they are thus tormented,) 
who have " not satisfied by ' works worthy 
" ' of repentance' for their sins, whether of 
" commission or of omission," incurred after 
Baptism. 

For it is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, 
(as my Protestant readers may need to be in- 
formed,) that although in Baptism all Sin pre- 
viously committed is freely forgiven, and all 
punishment on account of it, temporal as well 
as eternal, is fully remitted, yet after Baptism, 
mortal Sins are not dealt with so leniently ; 
even when they have been remitted in the Sa- 
crament of Penance, and so the guilt of them 
(reatus culpse), and the eternal punishment in 
Hell on account of them, have been removed. 
In short, there still remains due to divine jus- 
tice a temporary punishment : and those who 
have not satisfied for this temporary punishment 
by their works, or their sufferings, in this life, 
must suffer for them in Purgatory after death. 
And so necessary an article of faith is this held 
to be, that an Anathema is expressly denounced 



RESPECTING PURGATORY. 



119 



by the Council of Trent against all who shall 
deny it.* 

Nor are they only the more grievous, or (as 
your Church calls them) mortal Sins, which 
bring such tremendous consequences. We have 
the authority of the same passage of the Canon 
Law, to which, I repeat, we are referred in the 
margin of the Council of Trent's decree, for 
asserting, that venial Sins also, if not purged in 
this Life, are to be thus visited in Purgatory. 
The title of the article is, " What are the venial 
" Sins, which are purged after this Life?" And 
in the article itself it is said, that this must be 
understood of " small, nay the very smallest 
" offences, as, for instance, ' continual and idle 
" ' talking, immoderate laughter, or want of 
" ' care in managing one's affairs ;'f these things 
" even after death are heavy upon us, if they 
<f have not been remitted while we live."f 

After this, can any one be so unreasonable, 
you may ask, as to charge your Church with 
too great lenity towards sin, when even the 

* Sess. vi. c. 30. 

t Hoc de parvis minimisque peccatis fieri posse credendum 
est, sicut est, assiduus et otiosus sermo, immoderatus risus, 
peccatum curae familiaris, quod vix sine culpa vel ab ipsis qui 
culpam qualiter declinare debeant, sciunt quae etiam post mor- 
tem gravant. Dist. 25. ubi supra. 



120 



BELLA H MINE S STATEMENT 



smallest errors are declared by it to be so big 
with future misery? But before I answer this 
question, I will fulfil my promise of giving 
briefly Cardinal Bellarmine's exposition of your 
Church's doctrine of Purgatory, (avoiding, how- 
ever, the more subtle questions which he 
treats*) in confirmation of my statement. 

He defines Purgatory to be a certain place, 
where, as in a prison, those Souls are purified 
after this Life, which were not purified here, in 
order that they may be able to enter into Hea- 
ven.^ It is appointed, he says, for those who 
die with venial Sins, and again for those who die 
with the reatus poena?, (temporary punishment 
undischarged,) though the Sins themselves have 
been remitted.^ The pains of Purgatory are 
most horrible, atrocissimse, such as exceed, be- 
yond all comparison, any sufferings upon earth ; 
and that they are so, is the uniform doctrine of 
the Fathers.^ The belief of Purgatory is an 
article of Faith; so that " they who do not 
" believe it, shall never arrive there, but must 
" be tormented in the eternal fire of Hell. "|| ' 

* Such as, whether the fire be corporeal, 1 . 2. c. 1 1 ; and, if 
it be, how such a fire can burn souls ; 12, whether the sufferers 
are tormented by Daemons, 13. 

f Bell, de Purg. i. I.e. 1. § L. 1. c. 14. 



OF DOCTRINE RESPECTING PURGATORY. 121 

In proof of this doctrine of the Church, es- 
pecially of the dreadful intensity and duration 
of the pains of Purgatory, he refers to visions, 
and other revelations made to saints; one or 
two of which, exhibited by him in another 
work,* I will here beg leave to cite : for narra- 
tives of this sort, proceeding from so high au- 
thority, are the best comments on your creed, 
and afford the most satisfactory illustrations of 
the belief which has actually prevailed in your 
Church. 

" Since many persons," says Bellarmine, 
" will not believe what they have never seen," 
Purgatory more especially, " it has pleased 
" God sometimes to raise his servants from the 
" dead, and to send them to announce to the 
" living what they have really beheld." Here 
it is obvious to remark, how much more gracious 
God is represented to have been to your Church 
on this particular, than might have been ex- 
pected from his declaration in the Gospel, " if 
" they hear not Moses and the Prophets, nei- 
" ther will they be persuaded, though one rose 
" from the dead." It may indeed be said, and 
I am ready to admit the whole force of the 
suggestion, that neither " Moses and the Pro- 

* De Gemitu Columbse, lib. 2. c. 9, 



122 ACCOUNT OF PURGATORY. 



" phets," nor Christ and his Apostles, have said 
a single word about Purgatory, and therefore 
any especial revelation in proof of it was by no 
means superfluous. But this by the way. 

Bellarmine's first narrative is taken out of the 
History of Venerable Bede, who was well ac- 
quainted with the case — it happened, indeed, 
in his own time and neighbourhood, and, as it 
well might be, was the common subject of 
amazement to all around him. ' A pious father 
' of a family, in Northumberland, died, after a 
' long illness, in the early part of one night, but, 
' to the great terror of those who watched by his 
4 body, came to life again at the dawn of the fol- 

* lowing day. All, but his faithful and affectionate 
' wife, fled at the sight of him ; and to her he 
' communicated, in the most soothing terms, the 
' peculiar circumstances of his case ; that he had, 

* indeed, been dead, but was permitted to live 
' again upon earth, though by no means in the 

* same manner as before. In short, he sold all 

* his property, divided the produce equally be- 

* tween his wife, his children, and the poor, and 
' then retired to the monastery of Melrose. He 
' there lived in such a state of unexampled mor- 
' tification, as made it quite evident, even if he 
' had not said a word on the subject, that he had 
' seen things, whatever was the nature of them, 



FKOM ONE WHO HAD SEEN IT. 123 

« which no one else had been permitted to be- 
4 hold.' But he disclosed it all :— "One," said 
he, " whose aspect was as of light, and his gar- 
" ment glistering, conducted me to a valley of 
%t great depth and width, but of immeasurable 
"length; one side of which was dreadful be- 
" yond expression for its burning heat, and the 
" other as horrible for its no less intolerable 
" cold. Both were filled with the souls of men, 
" which seemed to be tost, as by the fury of a 
" tempest, from one side to the other: for, 
" being quite unable to endure the heat on the 
" right hand, the miserable wretches kept 
" throwing themselves to the opposite side, into 
" the equal torment of cold, and thence back 
" again into the raging flames. This, thought I 
" to myself, must be Hell; but my guide an- 
" swered to my thought, that it was not so — 
" 1 this valley," says he, ■ is the place of tor- 
" *' ment for the souls of those who, after 
" ' delaying to confess and expiate their sins, 
" f have at length, in articulo mortis, had re- 
"i ' course to penance, and so have died. These, 
" ' at the day of judgment, will all be admitted 
" * into the kingdom of Heaven, by reason of 
" * their confession and penance, late as it was. 
" * But, meanwhile, many of them may be as- 



124 



st. Christina's account 



" ' sisted, and liberated before that day, by the 
" ' prayers, alms and fastings of the living, par- 
" ' ticularly by the sacrifice of the Mass.' " 

This narrative is stated by Bellarmine to 
have his full belief, not merely on account of 
the veracity of Bede, but also from the edifying 
nature of the History itself. But he proceeds 
to one of much higher pretensions, to a narra- 
tive of St. Christina, which occurs in her Life 
written by Thomas Cantipratensis — "an au- 
" thor of the highest credit, and contemporary 
** with the Saint — confirmed too, by the testi- 
" mony of the pious and learned Cardinal James 
" de Vitriaco, in the preface to his book of the 
" Life and Acts of St. Mary de Oegnies." 

The following are the words spoken by St. 
Christina herself, immediately after her return 
to life, in the presence of many witnesses : (St. 
Christina, by the way, has her place in the 
Roman Calendar, and a festival is appointed to 
her honour on the 23d July. That she well 
merited this distinction will be apparent from 
the following narrative, the nature of which 
must have secured the closest scrutiny into its 
truth, during the process before her canoniza- 
tion, which could not, as you assure us, have 
been finally awarded without " the most solemn 



OF HER VISIT TO PURGATORY, 



125 



" and strict proofs that miracles were worked 
" by her, or through her intercession."*) 

" Immediately as I departed from the body/' 
says Christina, " my soul was received by mi- 
" nisters of light and angels of God, and con- 
" ducted to a dark and horrid place filled with 
" the souls of men. The torments which I there 
" witnessed are so dreadful, that to attempt to 
" describe them would be utterly in vain ; and 
" there I beheld not a few who had been 
" known to me while they were alive. Greatly 
" concerned for their hapless state, I asked 
" what place it was, thinking it was Hell; but 
" I was told that it was Purgatory, where are 
" kept those who in their life had repented 
" indeed of their sins, but had not paid the 
" punishment due for them. I was next taken 
" to see the torments of Hell, where also I 
" recognized some of my former acquaintance 
" upon earth. 

" Afterwards I was translated to Paradise, 

* Book, &c. p. 280. While these sheets were passing 
through the press, I have met with the Bull of Canonization of 
St. Francis de Paula (Bullar. Mag. t. i. p. 604.) and I find 
that two of the miracles proved by these t( solemn and strict 
" proofs," in his case, were, his boiling beans for dinner, in 
cold water, without fre, and lighting a lamp in a church without 
fire. 



126 



st. Christina's sufferings 



" even to the throne of the Divine Majesty ; 
" and when I saw the Lord congratulating me, 
" I was beyond measure rejoiced, concluding, 
" of course, that I should henceforward dwell 
" with him for evermore. But he presently said 
" to me, 4 In very deed, my sweetest daughter, 
t( ' here you shall be with me ; but for the pre- 

* ' sent I offer you your choice. Will you stay 
( 6 for ever with me now ? or will you return 
' ' to the earth, and there in your mortal body, 

* ' but without any detriment to it, endure 
■ - punishments, by which you may deliver out 
c ' of Purgatory all those souls whom you so 
' ' much pitied, and may also, by the sight of 
' 6 your penance, and the example of your life, 

* ' be a means of converting to me some who 
' - are yet alive in the body, and so come 
' ' again to me at last with a great increase of 
' ' your merits?' I accepted, without hesitation, 
' the return to life on the condition proposed ; 
f and the Lord, congratulating me on the 
' promptitude of my obedience, ordered that 
' my body should be restored to me. And here 

* I had an opportunity of admiring the incredi- 

* ble celerity of the blessed spirits ; for in that 
' very hour, having been placed before the 
' throne of God at the first recital of the Agnus 
4 Dei, in the Mass which was said for me, at 



TO RE least: souls from purgatory. 127 

f the third my body was restored. This is an 
? account of my death and my return to life. I 
' am recalled to life for the correction and 
' emendation of men ; I entreat you, therefore, 
' not to be disturbed at what shall happen to 
me. I say this, because the things, which 
you shall see wrought in me by the will of 
God, will far exceed human comprehension/' 
■ These were her own words. The author of 
her Life adds, that she walked into burning 
ovens, and though she was so tortured by the 
flames that her anguish extorted from her the 
most horrible cries, yet, when she came out, 
there was not a trace of any burning to be 
detected on her body. Again, during a hard 
frost, she would go and place herself under 
the frozen surface of a river for six days, and 
more, at a time. Sometimes she would be 
carried round by the wheel of a water-mill, 
with the water of the river, and after having 
been whirled round in a horrible manner, she 
was as whole in body as if nothing had hap- 
pened to her — not a limb was hurt. At other 
times she would make all the dogs in the 
town fall upon her, and would run before 
them like a hunted beast ; and yet, in spite of 
being torn by thorns and brambles, and wor- 
ried and lacerated by the dogs, to such a de- 



128 APPEARANCE OF INNOCENT III. 

' gree that no part of her body escaped without 
' wounds, there was not a weal nor a scar to be 
' seen/ 

' Such,' says Bellarmine, 4 is the narrative of 

* Thomas Cantipratensis ; and that he said no- 
' thing but the truth is evident, not only from 
' the confirmation given to his testimony by the 
' Bishop and Cardinal de Vitriaco, and from his 

* only telling what happened in the very pro- 
' vince in which he was a bishop, but because 

* the thing spoke for itself. It was quite plain 
' that the body must have been endued with 

* a divine virtue, which could endure all that 
' hers endured, without being damaged, and 
' this not for a few days, but for forty-two 
' years, during which she continued alive after 
' her resurrection ; but still more manifest does 
' this become from the many sinners whom she 
( brought to penitence, and from the miracles 

* after her death by which she was distin- 

* guished. For God determined to stop the 
' mouths of all unbelievers.' 

One instance more he gives, in proof of the 
possible duration of the pains of Purgatory 
even to the day of judgment. He quotes from 
the Life of St. Ludgardis, written by the same 
author as that of St. Christina. " About this 
" time Innocent III., after having held the La- 



A PRISONER IN PURGATORY. 



J 29 



" teran Council, departed out of this life, and 
" shortly afterwards appeared to Ludgardis. 
" She, as soon as she beheld him encircled with 
" a vast flame, demanded who he was, and, on 
" his answering that he was Pope Innocent, 
" exclaimed with a groan, ' what can this be? 
" ' how is it that the common Father of us all is 
" ' thus tormented,' &c? ' The reasons of my 
" * suffering thus,' he answered, * are three in 
" 6 number, and they would have consigned me 
" ' to eternal punishments, had I not, through 
" ' the intercession of the most pious Mother of 
" ' God, to whom I founded a monastery, re- 
" ' pented when in extremis. As it is, though 
" * I am spared eternal suffering, yet I shall 
" ' be tortured in the most horrible manner 
" ' to the day of judgment; and that I am 
" ' now permitted to come and pray for your 
" ' suffrages, is a boon which the Mother of 
" ' Mercy has obtained for me from her Son/ 
" With these words he disappeared. Ludgardis 
" not only communicated to her holy sisters 
" the sad necessity to which the Pope was re- 
" duced, in order to obtain their succour, but 
" she also herself submitted to astonishing tor- 
" ments on his account. The reader,'' adds our 
author, " must understand, that Ludgardis her- 
*' self revealed to me the three causes of the 

K 



130 



BELLA R MINE'S DOCTK 1 X E 



44 Pope's sufferings; but I forbear to disclose 
" them, out of reverence to so great a Pontiff." 

* This instance' (such is the pious comment 
of Bellarmine) * always affects me with the 
' greatest terror. For if a Pontiff, entitled to so 
' much praise, one who, to all human observa- 
* tion, was not merely a man of integrity and 
4 prudence, but of eminent, nay most exem- 
4 plary, sanctity — if even he so narrowly 
4 escaped Hell, and, as it is, must suffer the 
4 most excruciating torments till the day of 
4 judgment — what prelate is there who does 
4 not tremble ? who does not scrutinize the se- 
4 crets of his own conscience with the most un- 
4 sparing rigour? For I cannot easily persuade 
4 myself, that so great a Pontiff could have been 
4 capable of committing deadly sins, unless he 
4 were deceived, under some semblance of good 
4 by flatterers and relatives, of whom the Gos- 
4 pel says, 44 a mans foes shall be they of his 
4 4 4 own household." ' 

Perhaps the good Cardinal may have been in 
part influenced to make this last observation by 
his own experience of the mischief done at the 
Court of Rome by the flatterers who infested 
it; for it is well known that he was himself in 
bad odour there, for not carrying the doctrine 
of the Papal pow er quite high enough to satisfy 



OF PU KG A TORY . 



131 



his superiors, though he has gone so far as to 
make all subsequent generations stare in terror 
or amazement. 

But to return to Purgatory. After the alarm- 
ing histories given above, can any persist tc tax 
your Church with being too indulgent to human 
infirmity? Is it not, on the contrary, plain that 
her doctrine is more full of terrors than any 
other system whatsoever? 

Happily, this is not the whole of her doctrine ; 
there are some crumbs of comfort to which we 
will in the next place direct our attention. 



k 2 



132 



MEANS OF RELIEVING 



LETTER VI. 

Mr. Butler's statement of the means of relieving those who 
are detained in Purgatory. — His citation from Augus- 
tine on this subject. — Dr. Milner's citations from Augus- 
tine — Mr. Butler's from Calvin. 

The means of relieving the souls of the faith- 
ful, who are tormented in Purgatory, are thus 
briefly stated by you, after the Decree of the 
Council of Trent: — 44 The souls detained in 
" Purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the 
6 4 faithful"; and you proceed to say, that 44 the 
44 nature and extent of these suffrages are thus 
44 explained by St. Augustine. 4 When the 
4 4 4 saciifice of the altar, or alms, are offered for 
4 4 4 the dead, then, in regard to those whose 
4 4 4 lives were very good, such sacrifices may be 
4 4 4 deemed acts of thanksgiving. In regard to 
" 4 the imperfect, they may be deemed acts of 
4 4 4 propitiation; though they bring no aid to 
" 4 the very bad, they may give some comfort 
" ' to the living." 3 

Now, on this passage, you must forgive my 
remarking, that it appears to me singularly ill- 
fitted to the purpose for which you profess 



SOULS IN PURGATORY. 



133 



to adduce it. If, indeed, you only wish to 
throw dust in the eyes of your readers, to have 
the appearance of saying something, while, in 
fact, nothing, or almost nothing, is really said, 
— above all, if you wish to cover an awkward 
tenet with the mantle of authority, and to ob- 
tain for it the seeming sanction of Augustine, 
to any or all of these purposes the passage may 
be exceeding well adapted. But as an expla- 
nation of the matter in question, it is only 
ludicrous. Two of the three cases supposed in 
it, the first and the last, those of the very good, 
and of the very bad, have absolutely nothing 
whatever to do with the subject : while the 
application of these suffrages to the remaining 
case, that of the imperfect, is as little explicit 
as can be devised. 

But after all, Sir, what will you say when I 
tell you, that you have not the smallest right 
whatsoever to claim any service from this pas- 
sage of Augustine ? I hope this intimation will 
give you some surprise : it must do so, if you 
are as honest in these matters as I wish to con- 
sider you ; if, in short, you have taken Augus- 
tine's supposed testimony, without examining 
it, at second hand. But I must plainly tell 
you, that whoever has knowingly given to this 
passage the form in which you now adduce it, 



134 



MR. BUTLERS MISQUOTATION 



has been guilty of an artifice little short of for- 
gery. 

I have shewn, that, even as it stands, only 
one of the three cases exhibited in it will in 
any way apply to the question we are upon : 
and I have now to state, that this one appa- 
rently applicable case is produced by what 
may appear at first sight a trifling alteration, 
but will be found, in truth, a very material one, 
— I mean the substitution of the term imperfect 
for non valdb malis. You know quite well, Sir, 
that the Souls alleged to be detained in Pur- 
gatory are the Souls, as has been shewn, of 
pious men, of the truly penitent, of those who 
have died in the love of God, though they have 
not done all that was necessary in bringing 
forth fruits meet for repentance. Now, these 
may be very fitly designated by your term im- 
perfect, and therefore it has been adopted ; but 
they will not admit of Augustine's phrase non 
valdb malis, and, therefore, it has been rejected. 
The mere exhibiting of it must, you well know, 
have at once put you out of Court. 

The truth is, that the real words of Augus- 
tine, though a most undeniable evidence in 
favour of Sacrifices of the Altar, and of Alms 
for the Dead, are a strong tetsimony against the 
Roman doctrine of Purgatory. On examining 



FROM AUGUSTINE. 



135 



them with their context, particularly with the 
words which immediately precede and imme- 
diately follow them, it is plain, that the au- 
thor contemplated the day of Judgment, as 
the time when the dead would be benefited by 
these pious services offered for them by their 
surviving friends. For this is the course of his 
argument : ' Let not any one suppose that this 
( notion of being assisted after death by the pious 
' offices of surviving friends is contrary to the 
4 text of St. Paul, "We shall all stand before the 
' " Judgment Seat of Christ, that he may render 

* " to every one according to the things done in 

* " the body, whether they be good or bad 

' since it is by the conduct of a man while in the 
' body that he has procured to himself the ability 

* of deriving benefit from those offices of others. 
1 For it is the difference of men's conduct in life, 
' which makes it possible, or impossible, for them 
' to be thus benefited. When, therefore, the 

* Sacrifices of the Altar, or Alms, are offered for 

* the dead, then, in regard to those whose lives 
■ are very good, such sacrifices may be deemed 

* acts of thanksgiving: in regard to those who 

* are not very bad, they may be deemed acts of 

* propitiation : in the case of the absolutely bad, 
' though they afford no aid to such, they may 
' give some comfort to the living. But they who 



136 



DR. MILNER'S CHARGE 



9 are benefited by them, (the non valde mali) are 
' benefited to this end, that their pardon be com*- 
' plete, or their very damnation be made more 
f tolerable.'* And the succeeding chapters 
shew, that this damnation is that which will be 
awarded at the general Resurrection. f 

So much for your citation from Augustine, 
I am aware, that Dr. Milner has referred to this 
same passage but as he has not quoted it in 
words, I do not charge him with the same un- 
fairness which must be ascribed to the produc- 
tion of it in the form it wears in your book. 
But it is more difficult to acquit him of unfair- 
ness of another kind, the extreme unfairness of 
affecting to discover in this passage, and others 
in the same tract, a testimony which he can 
hardly fail to know is not that, which on due 
consideration must be drawn from them. I say 
this, because the same plea will not be admitted 

* Quibus autem prosunt, ad hoc prosunt, ut sit plena re- 
missio, aut certe tolerabilior fiat ipsa danmatio. Ench. 110. 

*f This is also shewn by chapter 93, where there is a re- 
markable similarity even of expression. Speaking of the gene- 
ral Resurrection, he says, Mitissirna sane omnium poena erit 
eorum, qui praeter peccatum quod originate traxerunt, nullum 
insuper addiderunt : et in cseteris qui addiderunt, tanto quisque 
tolerabilior em ibi habebit damnaiionem, quanto hie minorem ha- 
buit iniquitatein. 

| P. 312. 



AGAINST BISHOP POltTEUS, 



137 



for him, of which I am desirous of giving- you 
the full benefit ; he cannot be supposed to 
have taken the alleged testimony on the credit 
of another. He, a professed controvertist, and 
champion of your Church, must have examined 
these matters for himself; particularly, before 
he permitted himself to found on them a charge 
of falsehood against a venerable prelate* now 
no more, for declaring " that Purgatory, in the 
" present Popish Sense, was not heard of for 400 
" years after Christ." 

Of the passages cited by Dr. Milner from 
this tract of Augustine, in justification of his 
most indecent charge, one has been already 
considered; the other|~ merely states, that 
f< during the interval between death and the 
" general Resurrection, departed Souls are 
" kept in hidden receptacles, according as 
" every one is worthy of rest or pain : nor is it 
" to be denied, that their sins are relieved by 
" the piety of their living friends." Here are 
two places, or conditions, of rest for good souls, 
and of pain for the evil ; but no intimation of a 
third, no " Purgatory in the present Popish 
" Sense," as the bishop expresses it. 

The truth is, that Dr. Milner has only en- 

* Bishop Porteus — See End of Controversy, p. 31 J . 
t c. 109. 



138 



DR. MILNER'S STATEMENT OF 



grafted a little of his own peculiar rhetoric on 
the old and established practice of writers in 
your communion, who are always anxious to 
couple Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead 
together, as if the latter necessarily implied the 
former. But prayer for the Dead, in the 
early ages of the Church, proceeded on very 
different grounds. One of them I shall have 
occasion to mention presently : meanwhile, I 
content myself with saying, that, in Augustine, 
passages, which prove the practice of Prayer 
for the Dead, are in general found in company 
with others, which negative a belief in Purga- 
tory, never (as far as I have seen, or Dr. Miiner 
has shewn) Math any which affirm it. In par- 
ticular, the tract, with which we are at present 
engaged, is full of passages opposite to the 
purpose for which it is cited by you and Dr. 
Miiner. In it the very text,* of which he 
affects triumphantly to ask " what other sense 
" it can bear than that which makes it ' a proof 

* 1 Cor. iii. 12 — 15. " If any man build upon this founda- 
tion (Jesus Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, 
stubble 5 every man's work shall be made manifest : for the day 
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire ; and thejire 
shall try every mans work of what sort it is. If any man's work 
abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but he 
himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire." 



AUGUSTINE S OPINION DISPROVED. 



139 



" ' of Purgatory,' " is explained, in a meaning 
wholly unconnected with that tenet. For 
Augustine* interprets the fire mentioned by 
St. Paul as the fire of tribulation or persecu- 
tion in this life, (" est quideni iste ignis ten- 
" tatio tribulationis,") and applies it as fol- 
lows : " They, whose foundation is Christ, 
though they build not thereupon, as they ought, 
' gold, silver, precious stones,' (that is, heavenly 
affections and desires) but ' wood, hay, stub- 
4 ble,' the desires of things of this world, over 
which the fire of tribulation will have power to 
consume and destroy them, if, nevertheless, 
they still keep the foundation, if, however they 
may themselves burn with grief for the loss of 
the objects of their earthly affections, they 
would still rather lose them all, than abandon 
Christ, — these are saved, but so as by fire." 

He then proceeds in a manner seemingly 
more favourable to your doctrine. " It is not 
" incredible that some such thing as this may 
" take place after this life also ; and this may be 
" a subject of enquiry, whether this be so, or 
" not. It| may be found, or it may not, that 

* Ench. c. 66. 

f Utrum ita sit, quaeri potest, et aut inveniri aut latere non- 
nullos per ignem quendam purgatorium, &c. : the construction of 
inveniri aut latere is not very clear ; but the general meaning 
of the passage is plain enough. 



140 



DR. MILNEr's STATEMENT OF 



" some men, through a certain purgatory fire 
" in proportion as they have more or less loved 
" the perishing enjoyments of the world, are 
" slower or sooner in attaining salvation." But 
even if this were the same as the Roman Purga- 
tory, (it will soon be made apparent, that it is 
not,) is it conceivable, that any author, after 
speaking in this very doubtful manner of such 
a tenet (alluding to it only as not incredible) can 
have intended to affirm it, positively, in the 
course of the very same short treatise ? If he 
did so in direct terms, would not his authority 
be utterly contemptible ? and if he should 
seem to do so in terms admitting another con- 
struction, is it not quite clear, that any other 
is rather to be chosen ? 

I repeat, that it is not my intention to enter 
into controversy about the truth or falsehood of 
your doctrines; nor would I ordinarily trouble 
you or myself with observations on the value of 
the arguments adduced for them, whether from 
reason or authority ; but having been thus 
drawn into an enquiry respecting the fairness 
of one citation from Augustine, and perceiving 
that Dr. Milner claims that father, generally, as 
a decisive authority in favour of Purgatory, I 
shall not scruple to extend my investigation to 
other instances, particularly to that which is 



augustine's opinion disproved. 141 



brought forward by him with most confidence, 
and has, in truth, the most promising appear- 
ance, I mean the passage from Augustine's Com- 
ment on the thirty-seventh (or rather thirty- 
eighth) Psalm : " Purify me, O Lord, in this 
" life, that I may not need the chastising fire 
*' of those who will be saved, yet so as by fire" 

We have seen that on another occasion Au- 
gustine gives a very different interpretation of 
the text of St. Paul, to which he here refers; 
and I may add, that in a third place* he speaks 
of that text, as very " hard to be understood," 
as one even of those which St. Peter had thus 
characterized. But, in the present instance, he 
adopts a notion, which was, indeed, supported 
by others of the ancients, (not that " there is an 
" intermediate state which you call Purga- 
" tory,"-j~ but) that all men must at the day of 
Judgment pass through the fire of the final con- 
flagration, — a notion grounded principally, or 
solely, on that very difficult text. That this 
was his meaning is not so plain from the pas- 
sage itself, as from a comparison of it with two 
other passages in the same book. The verse, 
on which Augustine comments in the passage 
quoted by Dr. Milner, is that which stands as 

* De Fide et Operibus, e. 15. f End of Controv. p. 312. 



142 



DR. MILNERS STATEMENT OF 



the first verse of the thirty-eighth Psalm in our 
Bible, ' ' O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, 
" neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure." 
Now, in his comment on the same, or almost 
the same, words in the first verse of the sixth 
Psalm, he speaks of this rebuking, and conse- 
quently of this chastening (to which he applies 
the very same text of St. Paul) as taking place 
at the day of Judgment * And this is said in 
still plainer terms in his comment on the 103d 
Psalm, v. 12. " That evening is the end of the 
" world, and that smoking furnace the day of 
" Judgment. If a man shall build upon the 
" foundation wood, hay, stubble, that is, shall 
" build worldly affections on his faith, still if his 
" foundation be Christ, if Christ have the first 
" place in his heart, and nothing be preferred 
" to him, the smoking furnace shall come and 
"burn up the wood, the hay, the stubble; 
"'but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by 
" fire. This shall be the effect of the smoking 
"furnace; it shall separate some to the left 
" hand (the place of the damned) others it shall 

* " Domine, ne ira tua arguas me, nec in furore tuo corripias 
me.'' Arguuntur autem in die judicii omnes qui non liabent fun- 
(ianientum, quod est Christus : emendantur autem, id est pur- 
gantur, qui huic fundamento superaedifieant lignum, &c. De- 
tiimentum enim patientur, sed salvi erunt tanqnam per ignem. 



AUGUSTINE S OPINION DISPROVED. 



143 



" in a certain manner refine away to the right 
".hand," the station of the blessed. Let me 
add, that this text of St. Paul (promising as 
Dr. Mi ine r may deem it) carries within it a de- 
cisive proof that it is not applicable to the Ro- 
man doctrine of Purgatory; for " the fire" there 
mentioned, " shall try every maris work," which 
is contrary to the first notion of Purgatory. 
There is another work of Augustine, to which 
Dr. Mil ne r has had recourse, De Civitate Dei. 
He cites the 21st book, ch. 24. to shew that some 
sins are forgiven in the world to come. This is 
a matter with which I shall not trouble myself; 
but I beg leave to cite the 26th chapter of the 
same book, to shew that of another notion, 
which more nearly approached to the Roman 
Purgatory, than any other that has been stated, 
(though still by no means the same) the most 
that Augustine can bring himself to say, is, that 
he does not argue against it, because, perhaps it 
is true;* I must likewise cite the 26th chapter 
of the preceding book to shew that the purifying 
fire really spoken of by Augustine, in this work 
also, is not the Roman Purgatory, but the fire 
of the last Judgment. " In that fire, igne judicii 
" novissimi, shall men be cleansed, in order that 

* Non redarguo, quia forsitan verura est. De Civ. Dei, 1. 
21. c. 26. 



144 



BISHOP POHTEl'S VINDICATED, 



" they may offer sacrifices in righteousness; 
" for we must believe that after undergoing 
" the purification, the just will have no sin." 
" For those sacrifices of the old law were com- 
" manded to he offered without spot, and sig- 
" nified holy men, such as Christ alone # has 
*' been found to be, without any sin whatever. 
" Therefore, after the judgment, when those shall 
" have been cleansed by the fire, who are worthy 
i( of that purification, there shall be found in all 
" the saints an entire freedom from all sin; and 
<tf thus they may offer themselves without spot." 

I have now examined Dr. Milner's citations 
from Augustine in a more detailed manner, than 
accords, perhaps, with my professed purpose. 
I have done so, I frankly avow, because there 
appears to me much more of disingenuousness, 
than of misapprehension, on his part : and I 
have the less scruple in declaring this my opi- 
nion, because the coarse and unfounded invec- 
tive with which he has assailed Bishop Porteus, 

* I cannot forbear to notice this distinct testimony of Au- 
gustine, thus thrown in our way, against the doctrine of the 
Roman Church, respecting the Virgin Mary — solus inventus est 
Christus, sine ullo omnino peccato 5 and lest any quibble be 
made respecting Original Sin, I will cite the following from the 
same chapter : Excepto uno Mediatore, et post laxacrum regenera- 
tions quibitsque adhuc parvulis, nemo mundus a sorde, sicut 
seriptum est, nec infans cujus vita unius diei super terram. 



BISHOP POKTEt S VINDICATED. 



145 



demands that he be not himself treated with too 
much forbearance. For asserting that " Pur- 
" gatory, in the present Popish sense, was not 
" heard of for 400 years after Christ ; nor uni- 
" versally received for 1000 years; nor almost 
'* in any other Church than that of Rome to 
" this dayf — that Prelate is accused by Dr. 
Milner of " three egregious falsities." The sort 
of evidence adduced for this accusation, I have 
endeavoured to set forth ; and I now conclude 
with quoting, on these same points, the lan- 
guage of one of the greatest divines, and most 
virtuous men, who ever adorned your Commu- 
nion, — one, who bore a large share in the con- 
troversy against Luther, and, I need not add, 
sealed the testimony of his sincerity with his 
blood, — Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. You will 
perceive, that he, almost in direct terms, affirms 
those very propositions, which, coming from 
the pen of a Protestant Bishop, are treated by 
your modern Hierarch with such disgraceful 
scurrility. 

"No orthodox person," says he, "now 
" doubts whether there be a purgatory ; and 
" yet by those ancients there was not any 
" mention made of it whatever, or, if any, the 
" rarest possible. Nay, by the Greeks, even 
" to the present day, 4he very existence of 

L 



146 FISHER BISHOP OF ROCHESTER OX PURGATORY. 

" Purgatory is disbelieved. Let any one, who 
u will, read the Commentaries of the Greek 
" Fathers, and he will find, that they never, (if 
" I mistake not,) or, at any rate, as seldom as 
" possible, speak of Purgatory. Nor even did 
" the Latins all at once receive this truth." 
" Since, then, Purgatory was so late in being 
" known and admitted by the universal Church, 
" can any man wonder, that of a practice con- 
" nected with the belief of it, there was no 
" instance to be found in the early ages of the 
" Church?"* 

This is the language of Bishop Fisher. 
Choose, Sir, between him and Dr. Milner. 
Choose, whether you will seek for your Church 
such advantages only, as can be obtained by 
fair and manly argument, or will prefer the 
specious, but in the end the ruinous, course, of 
aiming at a little temporary triumph by the 
artifices of the sophist or the calumniator. At 
present, I am sorry to say (while I wish to 
acquit you of calumny) that in sophistry you 
are too apt and forward a pupil of your great 
master. Hence it is, that you have ventured 
to eke out your meagre section on the ques- 
tion before us, with the following miserable 
attempt to mislead your readers. " Tradi- 

* Adv. Luther, art. J 8. 



CALVIN MISRFPRF.S I V T E D . 



147 



<c tion, in favour of the Catholic doctrine of 
* k Purgatory, is so strong, that Calvin confesses 
" explicitly, that during 1300 years before his 
" time, (1600 before ours) it had been the 
*' practice to pray for the dead, in the hope of 
" procuring them relief T You have not thought 
fit to give any reference to the particular work 
of Calvin, from which you make this notable 
quotation ; though you require of us to mention 
always, " the work, the edition of it, and the 
'* page in which it is contained."* Left, there- 
fore, as we are, to hunt for the passage through 
nine ponderous folios, I am so illiberal as to 
suspect, either that it does not exist at all in 
the precise form in which you exhibit it ; or, if 
it exists, that it would be found in company 
which you would be very sorry it should be 
seen to keep. Permit me to ask, Sir, whether 
you ever read what Calvin has really written on 
this point? if you have not, will you acknow- 
ledge any obligation to me for informing you, in 
that writer's own words, what he thought and 
taught on " Tradition in favour of Purgatory?" 

" As to Purgatory, we know that there were 
" ancient Churches which made mention of the 
" dead in their prayers, but that was rare, was 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, &c. p. 10. 
L 2 



148 



CALVIN S REAL ACCOUNT 



" sober, and contained in few words, such, in 
" short, as showed that they only wished to 
" testify incidentally their own charity towards 
" the dead. The architects, who built up that 
"Purgatory of yours, were not yet in exist- 
" ence."— " I will not suffer, Sadoletus, that 
" the name of the Church be inscribed on such 
" flagitious tenets, — that you shall so defame 
" it, in violation of all that is just or sacred, — 
" and raise against us a prejudice in the minds 
" of the ignorant, as if we were resolved to 
" wage war with the Church. — For, while I 
" admit that there were sown long ago certain 
" seeds of superstition, which were somewhat 
" degenerating from the purity of the Gospel, 
" yet you know well, that the monstrous im- 
" pieties, against which our warfare is directed, 
" were but recently either first called into ex- 
" istence, or at least carried to their present 
" magnitude. Against your whole proud sys- 
" tern, to take it by storm, to trample it to the 
" earth, to scatter it to the winds, we are armed 
" not only with the strength of the divine word, 
" but also with the authority of the holy Fathers''* 

* Resp. ad Sadolet. p. 110. Since writing the above, I have 
found the passage (Inst. 1. 3. c. 5. s. 10.) which you have bad 
in view. It is what I suspected, as will be apparent from the 
following extracts. <c Quum mihi objiciunt adversarii, ante 



OF THE TRADITION OF PURGATORY. 149 



This, Sir, is an account of the Tradition 
respecting Purgatory given by Calvin, " that 
" blasphemer Calvin," as he is called by the 
meek and holy Dr. Milner. Avail yourself of 
it if you can. 

*' niille et trecentos annos usu receptum fuisse, ut precationes 
" fierent pro defunctis, eos vicissim interrogo, quo Dei verbo &c. 
" factum sit." " Caeterum ut concedam, vetustis Ecclesiae 
" scriptoribus pium esse visum suffragari mortuis/' &c. " Verum 
" ne glorientur adversarii nostri, quasi veterem ecclesiam erroris 
" sui sociam liabeant, dico esselongum discrimen." " Agebant 
" illi memoriam mortuorum, ne videreritur omnem de ipsis 
" curam abjecisse : sed simul fatebantur, se dubitare de ipsorum 
" statu. De purgatorio certk adeo nihil assererent, ut pro re 
" in cert d haberent.'" " Quinetiam nonrmlla veterum testi- 
" monia proferre, nobis haud difficile esset, quae totas illas pro 
" mortuis preces, qu&e tunc usitatae erant, manifeste evertunt/' 
— It is thus tbat Calvin " confesses explicitly that during 1300 
" years before his time (1600 before ours) it had been the 
" practice to pray for the dead, in the hope of procuring them 
" relief." 



150 



MEANS OK RELIEVING SOULS 



LETTER VII, 



Means of relieving those who are conjined in Purgatory 
stated in the Decree and the Catechism of the Council 
of Trent, 

Hitherto we have been unsuccessful in our 
search for those reliefs which the unhappy state 
of souls detained in Purgatory so urgently de- 
mands. Let us, however, turn from your and 
Dr. Milner's pages to other more authoritative 
quarters. We need not look far. The Council 
of Trent, in the very decree* from which you 
quote, gives us some pregnant intimations of 
the real nature of the help afforded to Souls in 
Purgatory by the suffrages of the faithful. 

After explaining these suffrages to be " sa- 
" crifices of the mass, prayers, alms, and other 
" works of piety," the Council tells us, that 
they may be, and are accustomed to be, per- 
formed by the living faithful on the behalf and 
in the place of the faithful dead.* This is said 
with sufficient plainness in the decree ; but it is 
still more expressly declared in the Council's 



DETAINED IN PURGATORY. 



151 



Catechism, where the possibility of this vica- 
rious satisfaction is affirmed for all, dead as well 
as living. " Herein is the most exalted good- 
" ness and clemency of God worthy of all praise 
" and thanksgiving, that he has mercifully 
" granted to the infirmity of the human race, 
9 that one man may be able to satisfy for 
" another,"* to satisfy, that is, on account of 
another, for the temporal punishment either in 
this world or in Purgatory, which remains due for 
those mortal sins, whose guilt and eternal punish- 
ment are already remitted. — " And this," the 
Catechism proceeds, " is peculiar to this part 
of Poenitentia ; for though no one can be con- 
" trite for another, or confess for another, yet 
" those who are endowed with divine grace," 
(as all after absolution are supposed to be,) 
" are able in the name of another to discharge 
"fully what is due to GW."| And thus we have 
the comfort of seeing a method devised, by which 
the Souls in Purgatory may be effectually re- 
lieved. Their surviving friends may discharge 
for them the works worthy of repentance, which 
they omitted to perform for themselves before 
they died. 

* Cat. ad Par. pais ii. cap. 5. 

T Ibid. Qui divina gratia picediti sunt, attends nomine pos- 
sunt, quod Deo debetur, persolvere. 



152 



DECREE OF COUNCIL OF TRENT 



Not only so; but some, bolder expedients 
have been said to be occasionally adopted, I 
mean, that of playing at trictrac, or other games 
of chance or skill, for satisfactions as the stake ; 
where the loser, of course, must perform, for 
his successful opponent, such works as it has 
been his ill-luck to lose, and thereby to abridge 
for him the term of his future sufferings in Pur- 
gatory. — I have none but Protestant vouchers 
for this fact ; and therefore, in writing to you, 
I insist on it no farther, than by declaring most 
sincerely, that I see not how it is inconsistent 
with the doctrine taught by your Church, or 
what there is to prevent the practice, unless, 
as we may charitably hope, the. feelings of your 
people are in this respect better than their 
principles. 

But 1 turn to something of higher authority. 
The same decree of the Council of Trent recog- 
nizes a still more consolatory resource for Souls 
in Purgatory, than any voluntary substitution 
of satisfaction by friends. As these friends of 
the deceased may chance to be unmindful of 
them, or may have enough to do on their own 
account, a prudent Penitent, if he be also an 
opulent one, will take care, in contemplation of 
the pains of Purgatory, to make his testamentary 
dispositions in such a manner, as shall secure 



RESPECTING MASSES FOR THE DEAD. 153 



the performance of an adequate number of 
masses for bis relief. The Council, with laud- 
able attention to the equity of these transac- 
tions, strictly enjoins, that the money shall not 
have been received, without a return of the 
money's worth: that " whatever shall be due 
" for the faithful defunct, according to the 
" foundations of testators, or on any other 
" score, shall be discharged, not perfunctorily, 
" but by the Priests, and Ministers of the 
" Church, and others whom it may concern, 
" with diligence and accuracy."* 

Now here you have a most effectual way of 
making to yourselves friends of the Mammon 
of Unrighteousness ; and to do justice to the 
sons of your Church in former days, they were 
not slow or niggardly in making use of it. Of 
the extent, to which the practice was carried 
in our own country, we have a standing monu- 
ment in the statutes of Mortmain, a timely, and, 
happily, a successful attempt, to close that 
" great gulph, in which," as Blackstone ex- 
presses it, " all the landed property of the king- 
" dom was in danger of being swallowed." 

* Sess. xxv. Quae pro illis (fidelibus defunctis) ex testato- 
rum fundationibus vel alia ratione debentur, non perfunctorie., 
sed a Sacerdotibus, et Ecclesiae miriistris, et aliis qui hoc pra?- 
stare teneritur, diligenter et accurate persolvantur. 



154 



THE GOSPEL OF ROME 



Some uncharitable persons may even suspect, 
that the appalling histories which Bellarmine 
has given us, of Saints Christina and Ludgar- 
dis, and other similar statements of the pains 
of Purgatory, accompanied as they all are with 
intimations of the benefit to be derived from the 
pious offices of the living, were originally de- 
signed to promote this holy traffic. In truth, 
how could the perishable goods of this world be 
better employed, than in purchasing these ines- 
timable benefits beyond the grave ? and what 
surviving relative could begrudge a curtailed in- 
heritance, on such ample terms of benefit to the 
deceased ? " Let us hear," then, " the conclusion 
" of the whole matter." " How hardly shall he, 
" who trusts in riches, enter into the kingdom 
" of God," says the gospel of Christ Jesus. 
" How hardly shall he, who trusts in riches, 
" be kept out of the kingdom of God !" says 
the gospel of the Church of Rome.* If it be 

* For writing this I doubtless shall be charged with much 
illiberality. I cannot help it. After my critics shall have 
vented their indignation on me, I commend to their attention 
a passage from an " Encyclical Letter" of the present Pope, 
Leo XII. to the Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, of his 
Church, recently published, with an Address " to all the faith- 
" fui clergy and people" in Ireland, subscribed by all the 
Roman-Catholic Archbishops, and Bishops, in that country. 



A GOSPEL FOR THE RICH. 



155 



one of the high distinctions of the former, that 
to the poor the gospel is preached, it may be not 
less the appropriate boast of the latter, that 
by it the case of the rich has been no less 

In that address this Encyclical Letter, from which I am about 
to give an extract, is pronounced to be " replete with truth 
and wisdom;" that on receiving it the subscribing Prelates 
" at once recognized the voice of him, for whom our Redeemer 
" prayed that his faith might not fail, and to whose ardent 
" charity he entrusted the care of his entire flock. We ex- 
" claimed, therefore," they continue, " with the Bishops of the 
" Catholic Church formerly assembled at Chalcedon, Peter has 
" spoken by heo" In plain English that this Encyclical 
Letter breathes the true spirit of your Church. With this very 
satisfactory comment, I now produce my extract : — 

" The wickedness of our foes has proceeded so far, that in 
" addition to a deluge of pernicious books, hostile to religion, 
" they endeavour to employ to its detriment the Sacred Scrip- 
" tures, which were given to us by God for its support. 

" You are aware, venerable brethren, that a society, com- 
" monly called the Bible Society, strolls with effrontery 
" throughout the world : which Society, contemning the tra- 
" ditions of the Holy Fathers, and contrary to the well known 
" decree of the Council of Trent, labours with all its might, 
" and by every means, to translate — or rather to pervert — the 
" Holy Bible into the vulgar languages of every nation *, from 
" which proceeding, it is greatly to be feared that what is as- 
" certained to have happened as to some passages, may also 
" occur with regard to others ; to wit : ' that, by a perverse 
" 1 interpretation, the Gospel of Christ be turned into a human 
" ' Gospel, or., what is still worse, into the Gospel of Hit Devil.' 



156 



THE GOSPEL OF ROME 



happily provided for. Charles II. had good 
reason for saying, that yours is the only reli- 
gion for a gentleman.* 

* It may be satisfactory to learn, that the poor in Ireland have 
lately had their piteous condition, in respect to posthumous suf- 
fering, taken into consideration, and societies are established for 
their relief, some of them chiefly supported by the weekly sub- 
scriptions of the poor themselves, who contribute according to 
their means, 5d. 2 jd„ or Id. per week." To the same fund 
the contributions of the more opulent and charitable are invited, 
" at the rate of 7|d. lOd. or Is. per week, given quarterly in 
'* advance, which grand subscriptions will be faithfully 

<( REGISTERED AND TRANSMITTED FROM OUR BOOKS TO THE 
" BOOKS OF ETERNAL LIFE, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE MORE 
" AMPLE RECOMPENSE AND MORE GLORIOUS REWARDS." " When 

" a member dies, Masses will be immediately celebrated for the 
" eternal repose of the soul, according to the subscription, 
" on condition the deceased member has given at least a years 
" subscription and be a subscriber at death." 

This is an extract of a paper pretty widely circulated in 
Dublin, and printed by J. Coyne, under the title " J. M. J." 
(i. e. Jesus, Mary, Joseph.) <f Plan of a charitable Institution." 
The objects of this society are several. 

Others are more strictly confined to the relief of souls in Pur- 
gatory, and are entitled " Purgatorian Societies ;" one of them 
instituted March 29, 1806, and held at the Evening Free 
School, No. 43, Meath Street. 

" In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
" Holy Ghost." Among the rules of this society are the fol- 
lowing ; " R. 2. That every well-disposed Catholic wishing (o 
" contribute to the relief of the suffering souls in Purga-tory shall 
" pay Id. per week, which shall be appropriated to the pro- 



A GOSPEL FOR THE RICH. 



L57 



f< curing of masses to be offered up for the repose of the souls 
" of the deceased parents, relations, and friends of all the 
" subscribers to the institution in particular, and the faithful 
" departed in general." (< R. 6. Each subscriber shall be 
" entitled to an office at the time of their death, another at the 
" expiration of a month, and one at the end of twelve months 
" after their decease, also the benefit of masses which shall be 
" procured to be offered by the money arising from subscrip- 
" tions, and which shall be extended to their parents, relations, 
" &c." "R. 7- Every member of the office for the dead, who 
" serves the society in the capacity of Superior, shall at the time 
te of his death be entitled to the benefit of three masses, 
" Rector, &c. two masses, and every subscriber without dis- 
" tinction shall be entitled to one mass, if he be six months a 
subscriber, and be clear of all dues at the time of his depar- 
" ture." 

Thfre is another similar society, under the patronage of 
St. Joseph, of which the Rev. R. J. O'Hanson is President. 

In the recent examination of Dr. Doyle, before the Com- 
mittee of the House of Lords, the existence of these Societies 
was not denied by him. The following are the questions pro- 
posed to Dr. Doyle on this subject, and his answers. See 
Report of Evidence, page 397. 

Q. Are there any Purgatorian Societies in Dublin ? 

A. I am unacquainted with those Societies. 

Q. They are not countenanced among the Bishops ? 

A. I am not acquainted with them at all ; there may be 
various things countenanced by poor tradesmen in Dublin, of 
which I know nothing. 



158 



INDULGENCES. 



LETTER VIIL 

Indulgences. 

We have not yet completed the catalogue of 
expedients for the comforts of those who can 
afford to pay for them. The subject of this 
letter presents us with a whole storehouse of 
mercies at the disposal of the Church. But 
before I advert to them, I must beg leave to 
pay a little attention to yourself and Dr. 
Milner. It is remarkable that both of you ex- 
hibit an excessive shyness in acknowledging 
the natural relation between the doctrine of 
Purgatory and Indulgences. Mr. Southey* 
has, as might be expected, treated them in 
connection with each other, as parent and off- 
spring. But you, professing to " take succes- 
" sively into consideration the principal subjects 
" on which he criminates the Roman-Catholics 
" in his 10th chapter, "f make a most awkward 
separation between these two articles, and 
thrust in " Confession/' between them. And 
yet, after all, when you come to talk about 

* Vol i. p. 310. 

*f* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 99. 



DR. MILNER OPPOSED TO BISHOP FISHER. 159 



Indulgences you are compelled to recognize 
their close connection with Purgatory. 

Dr. Milner takes a still bolder course. He 
does not, indeed, compel a direct separation 
between them, but he reverses their relation, 
and makes Indulgences precede Purgatory. 
Not only so, but he scolds Bishop Porteus in 
good round terms, telling him that " his ideas 
" are much confused," and " his knowledge" 
of the subjects he is writing upon " very im- 
" perfect ;"* in part, because he treats those 
subjects in their natural order. I must again 
call on old Bishop Fisher to protect his Protes- 
tant brother from the chastisement of this 
modern apostolic Vicar.f He does so in the 
same passage from which I quoted before. 
" As long," says he, " as there was no care 
" about Purgatory, no one sought for Indul- 
" gences : for fyt is on Purgatory that all regard 
"for Indulgences depends. If you take away 
" Purgatory, for what will you want Indul- 

* End of Controversy, p. 302. 

f It is proper to add that the Tractatus de Poenitentia, by 
Delahogue, which is the Class-book at Maynooth College, pre- 
sents these subjects in the same order as Bishops Fisher and 
Porteus. 

t Fisher's Works (Johan. Roffen.) ubi supra. " Ex illo 
" pendet omnia indulgentiarum existimatio.'' 



160 



INDULGENCES. 



" gences ? we shall not have the smallest need 
" of them, if there be no Purgatory." " Since 
" then Purgatory was so late in being known 
" and received in the Church, can any one won- 
" der respecting Indulgences, that there was no 
" use of them in the early ages of the Church ?" 
These concluding words 1 leave to Dr. Milner 
to discuss, when he next announces, that " the 
" Church has claimed and exercised the power ' 
of granting Indulgences, " ever since the time 
" of the Apostles down to the present."* 
Meanwhile, he must forgive those who prefer 
Bishop Fisher's authority to his. 

But what is the meaning of all this reluc- 
tance to own the connection between these two 
doctrines ? Is there any thing scandalous in 
it ? Dr. Milner appears to think so, as do 
several other of your Church's modern advo- 
cates : and I am rendering to you only an 
act of justice, (which I do most cheerfully,) 
when I say, that your account of the doc- 
trine of Indulgences is one of the fairest I 
have seen in the works of any of your modern 
writers. Many of your apologists prevaricate 
most sadly. For instance, Gother's " Papist 
" misrepresented and represented," says, that 



* End of Controversy, p. 306. 



INDULGENCES. 



161 



Indulgences " are nothing else but a mitigation 
" or relaxation, upon just causes, of canonical 
" penances, which are, or may be enjoined by 
" the pastors of the Church, on penitent sin- 
" ners, according to their several degrees of 
" demerit.' * 

Bossuet more largely says the very same ; that 
" it is the necessity of satisfactory works which 
" has obliged the ancient Church to impose 
" penances called canonical : when, therefore, 
" she imposes on sinners painful and laborious 
" works, and they undergo them with humility, 
" that is satisfaction : and when, out of regard 
" to the fervour of the penitents, or to other 
" good works, which she prescribes to them, 
" she relaxes something of the punishment 
" which is due, that is called Indulgence."! 

Dr. Milner conducts this part of his case 
with even more than his usual skill. In confor- 
mity to his plan of keeping the connection of 
Purgatory and Indulgences, as much as possible, 
out of sight, he actually contrives, in a long 
and laboured and methodized explanation of 
the latter, to avoid even once naming the for- 
mer. He tells us, that " God (like every 
" sovereign Prince) may shew mercy to con- 

* " 8, of Indulgences." f Exposition of Faith, s. 8. 
M 



162 



DR. MILNER's ACCOUNT 



" demned sinners either by remitting to them 
" all punishment, or subjecting them to some 
" lighter one than that to which they are con- 
" demned ; that many instances occur in the 
" Bible of God's remitting the essential guilt 
" of sin, and the eternal punishment due to it, 
" and yet leaving a temporary punishment still 
*' to be endured : that this is, indeed, the com- 
• • mon course of his mercy and wisdom in the 
" forgiveness of sins committed after baptism : 
<r that the essential guilt and eternal punish- 
" ment of sin can only be expiated by the merits 
" of Christ, but a certain temporal punish- 
" ment is reserved for the penitent himself to 
" endure : that satisfaction for this temporal pu- 
" nishment has been instituted by Christ, as a 
" part of the sacrament of penance : neverthe- 
less, that the jurisdiction of the Church ex- 
" tends to this very satisfaction, so as to be able 
<e to remit it wholly or partially, in certain cir- 
" cumstances, by what is called an Indulgence: 
" that this power was exercised by St. Paul, 
(i and has been claimed and exercised by the 
" Church from the time of the apostles. Still 
" it is not arbitrary ; there must be a just cause 
" for exercising it ; and there must be a certain 
" proportion between the punishment remitted 
" and the good work performed ; hence, no 



OF INDULGENCES. 



163 



" one can ever be sure that he has gained the 
" entire benefit of an Indulgence, though he 
<e has performed all the conditions appointed 
" for this end : and, hence, the pastors of the 
" Church will have to answer for it, if they 
" take upon themselves to grant indulgences 
" for unworthy or insufficient purposes : Lastly, 
" it is the received doctrine of the Church, that 
" an Indulgence, when truly gained, is not barely 
" a relaxation of the canonical penance enjoined by 
" the Church, but also an actual remission by 
" God himself, of the whole or part of the tem- 
" poral punishment due to it in his sight."*" 

Before I proceed further, let me briefly re- 
mark on the contradiction here given to Mr. 
Gother and Bossuet, and let me ask, which of 
them we are to believe. You send us to all 
three ; Bossuet, in particular, has a great name 
and reputation in the world, and is ordinarily 
cited by the modern diluters of the doctrine of 
your Church as a decisive authority. In spite, 
however, of all that can be said for him, he, as 
well as Gother, is in this instance wrong. His 
statement is condemned in express terms by 
Leo X. (as will be seen presently,) and Pius 
VI. ,| and, by implication, it is also condemned 

* End of Controversy, p. 305 — 307. 
t In Bulla anni 1794. 

M 2 



164 



INDULGENCES. 



by the Council of Trent, which calls indul- 
gences heavenly treasures* a phrase altogether 
inapplicable to a relaxation of humanly ap- 
pointed punishments. 

But to return to Dr. Milner. It is, I repeat, 
most edifying to observe, how ingeniously he 
has here kept out of view all connection be- 
tween Purgatory and Indulgences : of the for- 
mer not a hint is given, except in the very 
subdued expression, temporal punishment, — an 
expression, in which he might be quite sure 
that the majority of his Protestant readers 
would not find the meaning which he wished 
to conceal. And yet Purgatory, the pains of 
Purgatory, are the main, Bishop Fisher says the 
sole, matter of Indulgences.*)" 

* Con. Trid. Sess. xxi. 

f While this letter is going through the press, the evidence 
of Dr. Doyle, before the Committee of the House of Commons, 
has come to my hands. That divine does what Dr. Milner is 
anxious to do ; he dissembles all connection between Indul- 
gences and Purgatory j a point not quite suited to the polite 
ears of his examiners. He says, that ec an indulgence relieves 
fi the sinner entirely or in part from such temporal punishment, 
" as may remain hanging over him, after the guilt of his sin 
'.- may have been wiped away." — Secojid Report on State of 
Ireland, p. 194. 

Now* it is remarkable that in the whole of his statement he 
never once intimates that this temporal punishment is not con- 
* See Supplemental Letter. 



INDULGENCES. 



165 



I have said, Sir, and I have said it with plea- 
sure, that your's is the fairest statement of the 

fined to this life, but extends also to the pains of Purgatory. 
He abstains from explaining this, even when the Committee 
distinctly inform him that their notion of the temporal punish- 
ment of which he has been speaking, limits it to this life. 
" These infirmities*' (the sickness sent on many, and death on 
some, by reason of their unworthy communions) " the Com- 
" mittee understand you to describe as the temporary penalties of 
" sin; do you think that an indulgence can relieve from such 
" infirmities, as those which you describe as the temporary penalties 
" of sin ?" Mark his answer — He does not say that the Com- 
mittee are right or wrong in their understanding of his words. 
But he proceeds in a manner that can leave no doubt, that his 
intention was to leave his examiners under the mistake, which 
they, with more than their ordinary caution, had professed, for 
the very purpose, if it was a mistake, that it might be rectified. 

" I conceive, (says he) for instance, that the Almighty, upon 
" the repentance of a sinner, might forgive the eternal guilt 
" of such unworthy communion, as the apostle alludes to, but 
" notwithstanding that the guilt had been remitted by God, 
" yet such individual might be afflicted with sickness ; and I 
" do conceive that, if upon the remission of the eternal guilt 
" by God, this person availed himself of the indulgence which 
" the Church might grant, the Almighty would relieve him 
" from that sickness which otherwise might fall upon him." 

Now, I would ask Dr. Doyle, whether the temporal punish- 
ment which his Church holds to be generally due after the 
guilt of sin is remitted, be not the pains of Purgatory, as well 
as God's inflictions on the sinner in this life ? I would also ask 
him, whether he have not himself taught that doctrine, as a 
Professor of Divinity in Ireland ? Does not the Council of 



166 



1NDC LGENC.ES. 



doctrine of Indulgences which I have seen in 
any of the modern apologists of your Church. 

Trent distinctly decree it ? Does not the Catechism of Trent 
teach* it ? Does not the Class Book of Maynooth expressly 
argue, that, if this was not the case, the use of Indulgences 
(instead of being what the Council of Trent affirms, maxime 
salutaris) " would be most injurious ; since by absolving from 
" satisfactions enjoined in this life, which would have in some 
" degree diminished what was due for sin, they would leave 
" the sinner to suffer much more heaxy inflictions in Purga- 

The Committee further enquire of Dr. Doyle, whether there 
is " any distinction between plenary and other Indulgences ?" 
and here, too, his answer is worthy of remark : " There is : 
" an indulgence may be for some years, &c. or it may be a 
" plenary indulgence : the meaning of a plenary indulgence is, 
" that the Church thereby grants as full a remission of the 
" temporal punishment or penance due to a sin, as it is in the 
" power of the person granting the indulgence to bestow." 

Now the natural meaning of these words is, and the inten- 
tion in using them seems to have been to imply, that the Church 
of Rome (not merely Dr. Doyle) doubts the power of any one, 
even of the Pope, to grant a full remission. We have seen 
above what Bellarmine says, and what Dr. Milner says, who 
quotes the Council of Trent for his authority. The Class 
Book of Maynooth itself, eager as it evidently is to avoid the 
acknowledgment of this full remission, admits that '* most 
is divines,]: looking at the question speculatively, do hold the 
"■ doctrine of a full remission being given by a plenary indul- 



* See above, p. 116. f L>c Pcen. app. p. 329. 

% Dc Posii. app. p. 339. 



INDULGENCES. 



167 



You openly and plainly declare, that " the tem- 
" poral punishment due to sin by the decree of 

" gence of all the temporal punishment due" (whether in this 
life or in Purgatory) ; it then states another opinion, as held 
by some divines (etiam numero multi) that the effect of a 
plenary Indulgence is only to make up the defects of a penitent 
who strives as much as is in his power to satisfy for himself 5 
and sums up with speaking of the thing as uncertain in 
speculation, and still more in practice ; but it does not even 
intimate Dr. Doyle's ingenious suggestion. That suggestion 
he gives, not as his own, but clothes it with Papal authority* 
as " of one of the Bonifaces, in an explanation of the word 
" plenary Indulgence? Here, manifestly, Dr. Doyle wishes it 
to be understood, that this Pope not only entertained the same 
doubt, but expressed or implied it, in a formal explanation of 
the word. This, however, must not be suffered to pass. 
Boniface neither implied nor dreamed of any such thing. The 
words cited, or rather alluded to, by Dr. Doyle, were not, as 
he says, in an explanation of a plenary indulgence, but of an 
expression more extravagant, which by an hyperbole, and 
almost a solecism, of Papal goodness, went, if possible, still 
further than a full remission. They occur in a gloss on the 
bull of Boniface VIII. (which will be quoted presently) giving 
at the Jubilee of the year 1300, plenariam imo plenissimam re- 
missionem. The glossist says that he heard Boniface himself 
declare, that by the use of this prodigious superlative, he meant 
that there were no bounds to the extent of what he gave, but 
the bounds of his own power: but that his power did not 
reach to the entire and complete remission of all the pains of 
Purgatory, was a thought which never entered the head either 
of his Holiness or his Commentator. It wholly escaped the 
observation of Bellarmine too, in his elaborate treatise on this 



J 68 



INDULGENCES. 



" God, when its guilt and eternal punishment 
" are remitted, may consist either of evil in this 

subject, and I am inclined to believe was launched for the first 
time before the Committee of the House of Commons, as a spe- 
culation on the suasibility of that new " Assembly of Divines 
at Westminster." 

But " other Bishops were to be examined besides Dr. Doyle ; 
" and is it likely that such a man, so circumstanced, could utter 
" a deliberate falsehood with detection and exposure staring him 
" in the face?" I am not inclined to charge Dr. Doyle with 
" deliberate falsehood," as far as his affirmations go — the sup- 
pressio veri, and the adroit insiuuatio falsi, rather perhaps his 
readiness in assisting his learned auditors to deceive themselves, 
are all I remark in his case. And against this, I apprehend, the 
prospect of an examination of Drs. Murray and Kelly, con- 
ducted with the same sagacity as had distinguished the ques- 
tions put to himself, did not constitute a very powerful se- 
curity. 

Of what passed between the Committee and those other 
Doctors, I shall not trouble myself to say much. I will quote 
one question, however, as a specimen of the perfect amiability 
of the whole proceeding. After the Committee had heard 
with the most exemplary composure all the common -place 
statements, which have been refuted almost as often they have 
been made, in palliation of the worship of Saints and Images, 
they actually propose the following searching question — " Then 
" do you not conceive, according to your judgment, that the 
<( charge of Idolatry, which is brought against your Church, is — 
i( an unfounded charge?'* After this, I may excuse myself 
from occupying the time of my readers with any more notice 

* Second Report on State of Ireland, p. 524 J. 



INDULGENCES. 



169 



*' life, or of temporal suffering in the next, 
" which temporal suffering in the next life you 
" call Purgatory; that the Church has received 
" power from God to remit both of these in- 
" flictions, and that this remission is called an 
" Indulgence."* 

Having said so much, and so fairly, I wish 
you had said a little more; I wish you had 
stated, (what you well know is a common mat- 
ter of objection against your Church on this 
head, and was particularly and strongly pressed 
by Mr. Southey in the chapter which you 
were answering,) I mean the ground and foun- 
dation of this supposed power of your Church 
to grant Indulgences. It rests (as I need not 
remind you, though you have made it necessary 
that I should remind your readers) on the al- 
leged " treasure of your Church," a treasure 

of this Protestant Inquisition at present — (We must, I fear, 
return to it hereafter.) I will here only suggest, that, in the 
present liberal and enlightened age, its functions should be per- 
petuated; that the noble representative of the University of 
Cambridge, who presided at this days sitting, be appointed 
Grand Inquisitor, and that every Honourable, or Right 
Honourable Member, who either belongs to the body, or cites 
their proceedings as authority, be entitled to utter as many 
sarcasms, as his wit will supply, against " the ignorance of the 
Clergy/' 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p, 110. 



170 INDULGENCES. 

which is absolutely inexhaustible ; for it con- 
sists, first, of all the merits of Christ's suffer- 
ings beyond what was necessary for the re- 
demption of mankind ; and as those merits 
were infinite, their value could not be diminished 
by that or any other application of them: they 
must still, therefore, continue infinite. But, 
over and above, and (what is somewhat re- 
markable) in aid of this infinite treasure, you 
have, in the second place, a subsidiary hoard, 
namely, the merits of all the works, which all 
or any of the saints have ever performed be- 
yond what was necessary to satisfy for them- 
selves. These you, of course, regard as a very 
large sum : the Virgin Mary's merits in parti- 
cular must have been enormous ; for she had 
not even venial sin of her own (as we have 
already seen) to curtail their amount. Now, 
all these merits, I say, are a sacred treasure to 
be dispensed at the discretion of the Church, 
that is, with rare exceptions, of the Pope, to 
meet the exigences of the faithful. Accord- 
ingly, Bellarmine has said that an " Indulgence 
" is nothing else, than an application of the 
" satisfactions, or penal works of Christ and 
" the Saints."* 



* Bell, de Purg. 1. ii. c. 16. 



HEAVENLY TREASURE OF THE CHURCH. 171 

That I have stated the doctrine of your 
Church on this point correctly, you will not, I 
flatter myself, attempt to deny. But yet it 
may be well to preclude all cavil from less 
candid controvertists. 

First, then, the existence of this treasure is 
recognized in the decree of the Council of 
Trent, which I have already cited; coelestes 
hos Ecclesiae Thesauros* is the expression of 
the Council; and again in their last session, 
though, in the hurry of winding up their long 
arrears, they had not time for entering into 
details, yet they thought it right to decree most 
authoritatively, that Christ had given to the 
Church the power of conferring Indulgences,! 
and to condemn with an anathema those who 
deny it. This, therefore, is clearly a point of 
faith. 

But the Council having contented itself with 
recognizing the existence of this treasure, and 
approving the use of it, we must, in the second 
place, go for further illustration to other quar- 
ters. Now, the bull of Clement VI., J in which 
he reduces the time of Jubilee from every hun- 
dredth to every fiftieth year, distinctly says 



* Sess. xxi. t Con. Sess. xxv. 

X Extrav. Clem. Unigenitus. Tit. de Poen. 



172 SUPERABUNDANT MERITS OF CHRIST 

that as " a single drop of Christs blood would 
" have sufficed for the redemption of the whole 
" human race," the rest was not lost, but " was 
" a treasure which he acquired for the militant 
" Church, to be used for the benefit of his sons: 
" which treasure he would not suffer to be hid 
" in a napkin, or buried in the ground, but com- 
" mitted it to be dispensed by St. Peter and his 
" successors, his own vicars upon earth, for 
" proper and reasonable causes, for the total or 
" partial remission of the temporal punishment 
" due to sin: and for an augmentation of this 
" treasure the merits of the blessed Mother of 
" God, and of all the elect, are known to come 
" in aid;" so that there is no ground of appre- 
hension, that it can be either spent or dimi- 
nished. 

The same is repeated in a bull published by 
Leo X. de Indulgentiis. After distinctly ex- 
pressing the object of that bull to be u that no 
" one in future may allege ignorance of the 
" doctrine of the Roman Church respecting 
" Indulgences, and their efficacy," he sets forth 
that " the Roman Pontiff, Vicar of Christ on 
" earth, can, for reasonable causes, by the 
" power of the keys, grant to the faithful, 
" whether in this life or in Purgatory, Indul- 
" gences out of the superabundance of the merits of 



THE FUND FOIl GRANTING INDULGENCES. 



173 



" Christ and of the Saints, (expressly called a 
" treasure,) and that those who have truly ob- 
" tained these Indulgences are released from 
" so much of the temporal punishment due for 
" their actual sins to the divine justice, as is 
" equivalent to the Indulgence granted and ob- 
" tained." 

Again, among the propositions for which 
Luther was formally condemned by your 
Church, is the following, (No. 17.) — " Thesauri 
" Ecclesiae, unde Papa dat Indulgentias, non 
sunt merita Christi et sanctorum."* 
Need I multiply proofs ? It must surely be 
superfluous. I would only remark, that as all 
these bulls preceded the Council of Trent, and, 
especially, as it was the very end of that Coun- 
cil to correct the heretical notions which had 
been spread by Luther and his followers, we 
must understand the expression of " heavenly 
" treasures of the Church," applied by it to 
Indulgences, in the sense which had been so 
distinctly, so repeatedly, and so recently, de- 
clared by Holy Pontiffs to be the sense of the 
Church. 

Having thus settled the only question which 
it has been necessary to discuss with you on 

* Ex Bulla Leon. X. adv. Luther. Bull, Mag. t. iv. p. 611. 



174 



WHAT ARE REASONABLE CAUSES 



this subject at present, I shall beg leave to re- 
turn once more to Dr. Milner. He has thought 
fit to moot one or two points, which must not 
remain in the state in which he has left them. 

It will have been observed, that Clement and 
Leo have, in their respective bulls, spoken of 
reasonable causes, for granting Indulgences. 
Who is to be the judge of the reasonableness of 
such causes ? The Popes have uniformly pro- 
ceeded on the notion of its being wholly in 
their discretion, though not quite at their arbi- 
trary will. Dr. Milner, however, has imposed 
some specific limitations on them, for which he 
has gone to Bellarmine as his authority ; I shall 
beg leave to follow him thither, and will request 
my readers to accompany us. 

He says, then, that there must not only be 
" a just cause" for granting the Indulgence, 
" namely, the greater good of the penitent ; 
" or of the faithful; or of Christendom in ge- 
(t neral ;" but " there must also be a certain pro- 
" portion between the punishment remitted and the 
" good work performed and for this statement 
of the doctrine of your Church he quotes Bel- 
larmine de Indulg. lib. i. c. 12. 

Now the phrase a certain proportion, indefinite 



* End of Controversy, p. 306. 



FO It I N D U LG E N C E S . 



175 



as it is, does yet, I apprehend, in the common 
understanding of it, imply some considerable 
proportion ; it has, in short, a very different 
meaning from the phrase, some proportion or 
other ;* and yet the latter would be the more 
adequate translation of Bellarmine's words, 
aliqua proportio. 

I assure you, Sir, it is with great reluctance 
that I submit to this minute and verbal criti- 
cism, to the drudgery of hunting an uncandid 
opponent through all the miserable shifts which 
a bad cause has induced him to try. I am also 
alive to the danger of disgusting my readers 
by inviting them to join in the same unpleasant 
task. But as it is necessary, I trust that they 
will bear with me for a little while. 

I say, then, that it is not for nothing that 
Dr. Milner has adopted this method of adding 
to his author's meaning ; as will, I think, be 
apparent from the following abstract of this 
chapter of Bellarmine's, which I have the more 
satisfaction in adducing, as it gives us a pretty 
good insight into the real nature of his rigorous 
notions about Indulgences. 

The question proposed is, " Whether a just 

* Any, it will be seen presently, is the strict meaning of the 
word, as it stands in Bellannine. 



176 WHAT ARE REASONABLE CAUSES 



" cause be requisite, in order that an Indul- 
" gence be valid ?" But from the points agreed 
to on all hands, especially as to its being not 
necessary that the work enjoined in the Indul- 
gence should be in itself so satisfactory, as to 
compensate the punishment remitted by it, 
" (for then, in truth, it would not be an Indul- 
gence but a Commutation, )" the question again 
resolves itself into this, " whether to constitute a 
" just cause, there is required any* proportion 
" between the work enjoined and the Indul- 
" gence granted, so that for a greater Indul- 
" gence a greater cause be required, or may the 
" very greatest Indulgence be granted for the 
" very smallest work ?" 

" There are two opinions,' 1 says Bellarmine, 
" on this point ; one, that not any proportion is 
" required^ but it is sufficient, if the cause be 
" pious, that is, not a work, which is merely 
" temporal, or vain, or in no respect pertain- 
" ing to the divine glory; — but for any work 
" whatsoever, which tends to the honour of 
" God or the service of the Church, an Indul- 
" gence will be valid. This was the doctrine 
" of St. Thomas, St. Antonius, and many more. 

* Quaestio igitur in eo solum versa tur, an adjustam causam, 
requiritur proportio ahqua, Sec. 

f Non ullam proportionem requiri. 



FOR INDULGENCES. 



177 



" The reasons for it," continues Bellarmine, 
" are chiefly drawn from the practice of the 
" Church; for we see, that for the same cause 
" Indulgences of very different extent are given, 
" sometimes greater, sometimes less. We also 
" see, occasionally, the very greatest Indul- 
u gences granted for the very lightest causes; 
" as when a plenary Indulgence' (which remits 
all the temporal punishment both in this 
world and in Purgatory) " is granted to all 
" who stand before the gates of St. Peter's, 
" whilst the Pope gives his solemn blessing to 
" the people on Easter-day." " Besides, they 
" argue, if Indulgences granted without a suffi- 
" ciently great cause were not valid, the Christian 
" people would be grievously deceived by their 
"pastors, which is not by any means to be 
(e maintained." " Lastly, Indulgences do not 
" depend, for their efficacy, on consideration 
" of the work enjoined, but on the infinite 
" Treasure of the Merits of Christ and the 
" Saints, which is a consideration surpassing 
" and transcending every thing that is granted 
" in an Indulgence." 

The other opinion is, that " to constitute a 
"just cause for an Indulgence, the work en- 
<c joined must not only be pious and useful, but 

N 



178 WHAT ARE REASONABLE CAUSES 

" also bear a proportion* with the Indulgence; 
" so that it is not valid, if for the slightest cause 
" the greatest Indulgence be granted." This, 
also, has great authorities on its side, and is the 
more common opinion. Bellarmine declares 
himself inclined to it. ? But, perhaps," says 
he, " the two may be reconciled," a task which 
he immediately undertakes. 

I will not inflict on my readers a detail of all 
the nice distinctions drawn by him; but I must 
give a few particulars, as illustrating both the 
doctrine and the practice of your Church; and 
I hope it will be borne in mind, that I quote 
from one who maintains the more rigorous 
notion. 

" To constitute a just cause for an Indul- 
" gence," says he, " the work enjoined must 
" tend to an end more pleasing in the sight of 
" God, than the satisfaction remitted. It must 
" also have some probability of attaining this 
" end. For instance, it would not be sufficient, 
" if a plenary indulgence were granted to all 
*'* who should once recite the Lord's prayer for 
" the conversion of Heretics: or to those, who 
" should lay out a single piece of money for the 
" recovery of Jerusalem." 



* Quod proportionem habeat. 



FOR INDULGENCES. 



179 



If this savours a little of austerity, the 
good Cardinal soon becomes more accommo- 
dating. Accordingly, he tells us next, that 
" in order to constitute a proportion between 
" the cause and the Indulgence, it is not ne- 
" cessary, that the work enjoined be in itself 
" very meritorious, or satisfactory, or difficult 
" and laborious, (though these things ought to 
" be regarded, too,) but that it be a mean apt 
" and useful towards obtaining the end for 
" which the Indulgence is granted. Therefore 
" it may happen, that by a work in itself light 
" and easy enough, a great Indulgence may be 
" acquired; because, light and easy though it 
" be, it is a mean of obtaining an end most 
" pleasing to God. Such, says he, is the case in 
" the very instance adduced, that of standing be- 
" fore the Gates of St. Peter s when the Pope gives 
" his solemn blessing to the people. This is called 
" by those of the former opinion, a very light 
" thing and a trifling cause, — and so it is, con- 
" sidered absolutely per se; — but the same act 
" is called by the others (the patrons of the 
" rigorous scheme) a great cause and a just; 
" and their reason is, that a large resort of 
" people at that time is a mean apt and useful 
" to set forth faith respecting the head of the 

n 2 



180 



WHAT ARE REASONABLE CAUSES 



" Church, and to the honour of the Apostolic 
" See, which is the end of this Indulgence." 

One thing more is to be observed — " A dif- 
i( ferent judgment must be formed of the cause 
" of an Indulgence when granted to a single 
" person, and when granted in common to 
" many. In the former case, the work en- 
" joined on that sole individual must be pro- 

portioned to the end for which the Indul- 
" gence is granted: but, in the other case, it is 
" only required that the work, not of every one 
" singly, but, of all together, be proportioned 
" to that end. For instance, if it be necessary to 
" build a Basilica, or a Hospital, and an Indul- 
" gence of seven or ten years, or even a plenary 
" one, be given to all who contribute a certain 
" sum, the work of each, taken singly, will not 
" seem a just cause; but if the whole amount 
" of what is supplied by all be considered, 
" then the cause will be just, because enough 
" will have been given to build the Basilica, or 
" Hospital, and such building will be more 
" pleasing to God, than the satisfaction which 
" is remitted by the Indulgence." 

Here, then, we have the real extent of the 
limitation, urged by Dr. Milner; we have it 
from the authority to which he himself refers, 



FOR INDULGENCES. 



18 r 



and from which, therefore, he will not be per- 
mitted to recede : — Bellarmine has told us, 
what is " the proportion'' required, to make 
such instruments valid, " between the punish- 
" ment remitted, and the good work performed ;" 
and, I think, the most faint-hearted of Dr. 
Milner's flock will not be much terrified by the 
result. Bellarmine, too, absolutely repels the 
notion of there being, in the main, any danger of 
the people's being deceived; "for," says he, 
" we do not believe that Indulgences are 
" granted by the Apostolic See without just 
" cause;" and he had just before said, "although 
" it is requisite that the cause of an Indulgence 
" be just, it is not for subjects (the people) 
" to judge in any case, whether it be just, or 
" not; for it is their duty simply to believe, that it 
" is just.* Yet, after all," says he, " as an 
" Indulgence is without effect, if it be received 
" by one who is not properly qualified, (which 
" cannot happen to any who is in a state of 
" Grace,) or if it be granted by one who has 
" not authority, (the Pope confessedly has full 
" authority,) so it may likewise be void ob de- 
l* fectum causae: — a prudent man, therefore, so 
" receives those indulgences, as at the same 



* Debent simpliciter existimare justam esse. 



182 INDULGENCES TO THE CRUSADERS 

" time to endeavour to bring forth fruits meet 
" for repentance, and to satisfy the Lord him- 
" self for his own sins." 

Having seen the doctrine, let us now enquire 
a little into the practice, of your Church re- 
specting Indulgences. 

The earliest instances, which we find, were 
those granted in favour of all who undertook 
the Cross, and engaged in the wars for the re- 
covery of the Holy Land, or in the expedition 
against the Moors in Spain. It is well known, 
that, for the encouragement of warriors to un- 
dertake these enterprizes, there was proclaimed 
by Popes ' ' remission of all their Sins" — remis- 
sion, that is, of all other satisfactions for the 
temporary punishment due to mortal Sins re- 
mitted in the Sacrament of Penance-— of course, 
therefore, a free passage to Heaven without any 
intermediate sufferings in Purgatory. And this, 
it must be allowed, was only putting the ar- 
mies of the Cross on an equal footing with those 
of the Crescent. Mahomet had promised to his 
followers, that all who fell in battle on his side 
should be admitted at once to the joys of Para- 
dise; and was it reasonable, that the Popes 
should be backward in affording similar en- 
couragement to Christian warriors? 

After the precedent, and with a slight exten- 



AND EXTERMINATORS OF HERETICS. 



183 



sion of the principle, of these grand Indul- 
gences, was another, which was granted by the 
fourth, or, as it is commonly called, the Great 
Council of Laterane, at which Innocent III. 
presided in person over more than 1200 Pre- 
lates. That numerous and infallible body was 
inspired to declare, that " all Catholics, tvho, 
" assuming the badge of the Ci^oss, should take up 
*■ arms for the extermination of Heretics, should 
*- enjoy the same Indulgence, and be protected 
" by the same holy Privilege (remission of 
" every sin) as is granted to those who go to 
'< the relief of the Holy Land."* 

Before this time, Honorius II. had adopted 
the same principle, and had beat up for recruits 
in a war of his own seeking, and solely for the 
honour of the Holy See, with the promise of the 
same Indulgence, the same remission of all Sin, 
the same immunity from future suffering, for 
his pay-t 

* Catholici verd qui crucis assumpto charactere ad hseretico- 
rum exterminium se accinxerint, ilia gaudeant indulgentia, illo- 
que privilegio sint muniti, quod accedentibus in terrae sanctae 
subsidium conceditur. — Concil. Lab. t. xi. p. 149. 

f Roger, Count of Sicily, on succeeding to the throne of that 
Island, refused to hold it as a dependency on the See of Rome. 
To teach this prince what was due to the successors of St. Peter, 
the warlike Pope had immediate recourse to arms. The recruit- 
scene is well described by Baronius (in A. D. 1127). The 



184 



INDULGENCES CHEAP. 



But these are all military and somewhat 
perilous works. There were other Indulgences 
granted on more peaceful and ordinary occa- 
sions. Such was that of Paschal II. in favour 
of all who devoutly visited the Churches of the 
Apostles at Rome; such, too, was that which 
we have already seen in Bellarmine, in favour 
of those who assist at the Pope's solemn Bene- 
diction on Easter-Day. In process of time, in- 
deed, Indulgences, even plenary ones, were to 
be had on extremely reasonable terms. In the 
pontificate of Leo X. they were some of the 
most marketable commodities of the day, and 
seem to have been sold sufficiently cheap. A 
great historian of your own Church (for I ab- 
stain from Heretical authorities) informs us that 
" Leo, following the advice of Cardinal Pucci, 
" had spread throughout the world the' am- 
4< plest indulgences, not only for the benefit of 
" the living, but also with power to loose the 
" Souls of the dead from Purgatory: which 
" things, having in themselves neither proba- 

Popes proclamation is as follows: " Ex auctoritate divina et 
" B. M. V. et SS. App. mentis talem eis (Honorius) impendit 
(( retributionem, ejusmodi, viz. quod qui delictorum suorum 
a pcenitentiara sumpserint, et in expeditione ilia morerentur, 
" peccata nniversa remisit. lllorum autem qui ibi raortui non 
i( fuerint, et eonfessi sunt, medietatem donarit." 



INDULGENCES. 



185 



" bility nor authority, (it being notorious that 
" they were granted solely to extort money 
" from those who had more simplicity than 
" prudence,) and being, besides, exercised most 
" impudently by the Commissaries deputed to 
" this exaction, (the greatest part of whom pur- 
" chased from the Court the power of exer- 
■* cising them) had excited in many places great 
" indignation and scandal, especially in Ger- 
" many, where faculties for liberating the souls of 
" the dead from Purgatory were sold at a trifling 
" price, or made the stakes of gambling in taverns. 
" And the mischief was encreased by the Pope 
"having given to his sister, Maddalene, the 
i* emolument, and the exaction, of Indulgences, 
" in many parts of Germany."* 

If you object to the authority of Guicciardini, 
even for the matter of fact, I shall not stop to 
defend it, but shall leave it, without comment, 
. to my readers. Or, if, which is more probable, 
you prefer condemning Leo, and charging him 
and his Court with the guilt of deceiving those 
who were so unhappy as to live in his time, and 
who, on the principle laid down by Bellarmine, 
could derive no benefit from these Indulgences, 
which were void ob defectum causae, I will pro- 

* Guicciardini, 1st. d'ltalia, \. 13. anno 1520. 



186 JUBILEES. 

ceed to one or two cases, as well as authorities, 
against which you can have no objection. 

The Bull of Boniface VIII.,* establishing the 
centenary Jubilee, " for the increase of the 
" honour of St. Peter and St. Paul, in order 
" that their Basilicas may be more devoutly 
" frequented by the faithful, and the faithful 
" themselves be made more replete with spiri- 
" tual gifts," — (a cause which you will not 
deny to be just,) grants to all persons, vere 
pcenitentibus, et confessis, who shall come to 
the said Basilicae in the present year 1300, or 
any future hundredth year, " not merely a 
" plenary, but a most plenary pardon of all 
" their Sins,"f if, being Romans, they shall 
visit the same at least thirty days, and at least 
once in every day ; or, being foreigners, if they 
shall do in like manner for fifteen days. But 
every one will merit more, and acquire the 
indulgence more efficaciously, who shall visit 
the same more largely and more devoutly. 

I need not inform you, Sir, that the interval 
between Jubilees was subsequently abridged, 
first to fifty years, afterwards to thirty-three, 

* Extrav. Comm. 1. v. de po?n. c. 1. 

•f" " Non solum plenam, et largiorem, immd plenissimam om- 
nium suorum concedimus veniam peccatorum." It is on this 
word plenissimam that the gloss, cited by Dr. Doyle, was made. 



JUBILEES. 



187 



and lastly to twenty-five years, at which term 
it now continues, and the Indulgence granted 
is still the same. By the Bull of Indiction 
of the Jubilee of the present year, the Pope 
" mercifully in the Lord grants and imparts 
" to all the faithful in Christ who are truly 
" penitent and confessed, &c, the most full and 
" plenary indulgence, remission, and pardon of all 
■* their Sins," provided they shall have complied 
with the condition prescribed in the Bull of 
Boniface, and the additional condition of 
" pouring forth pious prayers to God, for the 
" exaltation of the Church, the extirpation of 
" Heresies, the concord of the Catholic Princes, 
" and the salvation and tranquillity of the 
" Christian People." 

These, then, are all unexceptionable cases, 
where there is the proportion required between 
the Indulgence granted and the work enjoined ; 
and they afford an additional facility to the 
opulent, to those who can afford to undertake 
these distant and costly expeditions, or can 
purchase the assistance of others in executing 
them on their behalf. 

But, besides the work, which will, of course, 
vary according to the occasion, you tell us, 
that " to every Indulgence there is one condi- 



188 INDULGENCES FOR THE DEAD. 

" tion always annexed, I mean sincere repent- 
" ance ;" and Dr. Milner says, that " this is 
" always enjoined or implied in the grant of it, 
" and is indispensably necessary for the effect 
" of every grace."* What your Church means 
by Repentance will come more regularly into 
consideration in my next letter : meanwhile, 
you will permit me here to apprise my Protes- 
tant readers, that we shall find it a very differ- 
ent thing from the repentance of the Church of 
England. But I notice this matter at present, 
merely to remind you, that you and your friend 
have forgotten the case of Indulgences granted 
to the Souls already in Purgatory. You will 
not, I am sure, deny that these souls may be 
the subjects of Indulgences : for if you do, I 
shall be obliged to bring divers Bulls, and other 
formidable artillery, to bear upon you. In 
short, it is quite certain, that the Pope has as 
much power to apply the Satisfactions of 
Christ and the Saints, out of his holy Treasure, 
to the dead, as to the living — so says Dr. Mil- 
ner's alleged authority on this head, Cardinal 
Bellarmine ; f so says Leo X. in the Bull al- 

* End of Controversy, p. 304. 
f Bell.de Ind. 1. i. e. 14. 



PAPAL SAVING -BANK. 



181) 



ready cited ; so says the more modern autho- 
rity, the Class Book for the use of Candidates 
in Theology, at Maynooth.* 

Now, these deceased subjects of the Pope's 
Indulgences must, of course, be free from all 
necessity, as they are removed from all possi- 
bility, of Repentance : and as it is a matter of 
some curiosity, and much edification, to learn 
the manner in which these instruments are 
available for them, I must trespass again on 
your patience, while I refer to the authority to 
which Dr. Milner has directed us. 

On this subject, then, Bellarmine tells us, 
that 66 the Pope applies the Satisfactions of 
f J Christ and the Saints to the dead, by means 
" of works enjoined on the living. They are 
" applied, not in the way of judicial Absolu- 
" tion, but in the way of payment, per modum 
?' solutionis." It is, in short, a matter of strict 
account : a debtor and creditor sheet is regu- 
larly supposed in this Papal Saving-Bank. 
" For, as when a person gives alms, or fasts, 
" or makes a pilgrimage, on account of the 
" dead, the effect is not that he obtains absolu- 
" tion for them from their liability to punish- 

* Tractatus deSacram. Pcenit. ad usum Theologian Candida- 
torum, Autore Delahogue, p. 350. 



190 



LICENSE TO SIN". 



44 ment; but he presents to God, that parti- 
" cular Satisfaction for them," (in other words, 
he pays in so much to their credit,) " in order 
" that God, on receiving it, may liberate the 
" dead from" (either all or part, as the case 
may be, of) " the debt of punishment, which 
" they had to pay : in like manner, the Pope" 
(in granting to them Indulgences) ' ' does not 
" absolve the deceased, but offers to God out of 
" the Treasure of Satisfactions as much as is ne- 
" cessary to free them" 

Now, here again, Sir, we have a most com- 
fortable prospect for the wealthy penitent on 
his death-bed. Cannot he make it worth the 
pains of some less opulent brother, to discharge 
for him some work or other, which shall entitle 
him to a plenary Indulgence ? At the worst, 
a prudent Testator will not find it difficult 
to avoid lying in Purgatory beyond the next 
Jubilee. 

There yet remains one point, which must not 
be omitted, and which cannot be better intro- 
duced than by an extract from Dr. Doyle's 
recent examination before the Committee of 
the House of Commons. 

Was it ever the doctrine of your Church, or has 
it been any part of the practice of it, that those 



LICENSE TO SIN. 



191 



indulgences should extend to the remission of 
the temporal consequences with respect to 
crimes to be committed ? A. Never at any 
period. 

The reason you were asked that question is, 
because the Committee are aware that a vulgar 
error has prevailed on that subject? A. Yes, 
it is a horrible imputation* 

Horrible indeed ! But is Dr. Doyle, or the 
Committee, (who so confidently treat the very 
notion as a vulgar error,) quite sure of the 
ground on which they speak ? I am afraid I 
must undertake to prove, that the vulgar error 
is not on the side which they suppose. In the 
"works of a Roman-Catholic writer of high repu- 
tation in his own days, Claudius Espencseus, I 
meet with the following indignant attestation 
to the existence, the wide extent, and long 
duration of this monstrous abuse. It occurs in 
his Digressio 2da to the Epistle to Titus, at 
ch. i. v. 7. — A Bishop must be — " not given to 
filthy lucre." After having spoken of certain 
abuses of the Papal see itself, it thus proceeds, 
(e A bove majori discit arare minor." " These 

inferiors, not Bishops only, but Archdeacons 
" and their officials, in the course of their visita- 



* Second Report,. &c. p. 195. 



192 



TAX A CAMERA. 



u tions, no longer pursue the ancient salutary 
" discipline of deterring from vice by severe cor- 
" rections, but extort and squeeze the money of 
" the Clergy and the Laity — under the name of 
" procuration, not to say, fictitious jurisdiction. 

"But what is most base of all, they permit them, 
" for a certain annual fixed rate of 'payment, to live 
" with concubines and harlots. ' Let him have his 
" * concubine,' say they, ' if he will.' " " These 
" scandals are collected from the gravamina of 
" the Germans, where they occur in every line. 
" Instances of filthy lucre, such as these, might 
" be supposed to be invented through hatred 
" to the Pope, if, as he* complains, there were 

* Haec, inquam, lucra turpi a odio Pontificis Romani ficta 
sint, si non, quod ait et conqueritur, ille velut 

Prostat et in quaestu pro meretrice sedet 
liber palam ac publice, &c. 

I have translated this passage (which is not quite clear) in 
the manner which seems most favourable to the Church of 
Rome. If there be here an appearance that the reigning Pope 
Pius IV. (or V.) was innocent of this enormity, enough is 
afterwards said to fix the guilt on the See of Rome itself. 
Besides what we are told in the next page of the Pope's Legates, 
the following occurs. Habeat jam Roma pudorem, et tarn 
nullius frontis criminum omne genus catalogum prostituere 
desinat. — Nec vero est, quod speret Pontifex Galliam nostra- 
tem adeo deformem reformare, ade6 nutantem continere posse, 
nisi, &c. et taxas Mas atvxpoKepdeiag nomine multis merito ma- 
ledictis multorum taxatas, reliquamque Camerce Cancellaricequc 



SEU C ANCELLA Rl /F APOSTOLK I . 



1 93 



" not openly and publicly printed and sold, in 
" this place (Paris) at this day, as in former times, 
" a Book, entitled ' Taxa Camera? sen Cancel- 
" ' lariae Apostolicae,' in which you may learn 
" more of crimes, than in all the summists and 
i( summaries of all the vices that can be named ; 
" and in which there is set forth to very many even 
" a license, but to all, who will pay for it, an 
" absolution." 

" It is wonderful," he presently continues, 
" that at this time, and during the existence of 
" the present Schism, (it was written soon after 
the Reformation,) this Index, as it were, to so 
" many, so foul, so horrible wickednesses has 
" not been suppressed — a thing so infamous 
" that I do not think in Germany, in Switzer- 
" land, or any country else that has separated 
" from the Roman See, any work can be pub- 
" licly exposed to sale, more full of scandal to 
' 6 the Church, than this. And yet so far is it 
"from being suppressed by the friends of the Ro- 

Apostolicce negotiation em nundinationemqve, quasi quoddam Augea- 
Stabulum tandem repurget. 

It further appears from Espencaeus, that this abuse was of 
long standing ; for he says, that an officer of Innocent VIII. 
who lived in the preceding century, modd Cameram Apostoli- 
cam pecuniarum Matrem appellat, modd venalia Romae omnia 
agnoscit. 

o 



194 



ENG LTSH INDULGENCES, 



" man Church, that licenses and impunities for the 
" commission of such enormous crimes are in a 
" great measure renewed and confirmed in the 
"faculties of the Legates who come hither from 
<( Rome.'" 

I have cited this passage at a length which 
may be tedious, but I have done so in order to 
prove beyond contradiction the existence of 
this great abuse ; an abuse so far beyond all 
ordinary bounds of credibility, that any con- 
tradiction of it, on whatever authority, is re- 
ceived with a ready belief. Even your inaccu- 
racy, and Dr. Milners oft convicted insincerity, 
might still leave you credit for your assertion, 
that this " Taxa Camera? Apostolicse," was no 
more than " a rate of fees for the document of 
" absolution, which in certain great cases could 
" be obtained from the Pope only, and in order 
" to defray the expenses attending the appli- 
cation ; * and for Dr. Milners, f that " in 
" case there ever was the least real ground- 
" work for this vile book, which I cannot find 
" that there was, the money paid into the 
" Papal Chancery could be nothing else but the 
" fees of office on restoring certain culprits to 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 1 1 1 . 
f End of Controversy, p. 293. note. 



ENG L 1 S H I N D U EC E N i I., s . 



196 



" the civil privileges which they had forfeited by 
" their crimes." But the testimony of Espen- 
caeus has stripped both you and him of these 
vain pleas, and has exposed this foul particular 
of your Church's corruption in all its deformity. 

Before I conclude this letter, I suppose I 
must say something to the point, which you 
and Dr. Milner display so much eagerness to 
press against the Church of England, I mean, 
that she, too, " grants Indulgences " in certain 
cases. I shall dispose of this matter in a single 
sentence. The Church of England has, in 
many instances, permitted the commutation of 
certain Ecclesiastical Punishments into another 
form of Punishment, pecuniary fines, which 
fines are to be employed (according to the au- 
thority cited by Dr. Milner himself) for the 
relief of the poor, or other pious uses : whether 
this be wise or unwise, is, in my present argu- 
ment, a matter of perfect indifference ; I will 
only say, that as soon as the Church of Rome 
shall reduce her own doctrine and practice on 
the article of Indulgences to the same point, 
she shall hear no more reproaches from us on 
this head. 



196 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. 



LETTER IX. 



Confession and Absolution in the Church of Rome.— 
Statement of Doctrine and Practice of the Church of 
England on those points. 

We are now come to apart of our subject, on 
which I feel it difficult to write, without ex- 
pressing more warmth of indignation against 
the doctrine of your Church, than it would per- 
haps, in addressing you, become me to exhibit. 
I abstain, therefore, and shall content myself 
with simply stating, in the first instance, what 
that doctrine is. But in order to do this satis- 
factorily, it is necessary that I should say some- 
thing for the information of my Protestant 
readers of the supposed sacrament, to which 
Confession and Absolution belong. 

It is, then, the doctrine of the Church of 
Rome, that mortal Sins, committed after Bap- 
tism, are remitted only in the sacrament of 
penance : and of this sacrament the form, that 
which constitutes it a sacrament, is the speech of 
the Priest, Ego te absolvo, &c. : that the matter of 



CONTRITION AND ATTRITION. 197 

it, or rather, as the Council of Trent* expresses 
it, the quasi matter, are the acts of the penitent 
himself, namely contrition, confession to the 
Priest, and satisfaction. Of these acts, Con- 
trition is " the inward grief and detestation on 
" account of Sin committed, with a purpose of 
" not sinning in future." It is sometimes made 
perfect with love, and reconciles the sinner to 
God, before recourse has actually been had to 
the sacrament of penance ; but then the recon- 
ciliation is not to be ascribed to contrition, 
without the wish and purpose f of having re- 
course to the sacrament, which wish and pur- 
pose are included in that perfect contrition. 
But imperfect contrition, or attrition, as it is 
called, since it commonly arises either from a 
consideration of the baseness of Sin, or from 
the fear of Hell and punishment, if it exclude 
the present will of sinning, and be accompanied 
with the hope of pardon, is an impulse of the 
Holy Spirit; and, therefore, though by itself 
without the Sacrament of Penance, it will not 
lead the Sinner to justification ; yet it disposes 
him to obtain the grace of God in that sacra- 
ment. — In short, the Council of Trent has 

* Sess. xiv. 

f Sine Sacramenti voto. Ibid. 



198 



LOVE OF GOD NOT NECESSARY. 



settled, (and so it is stated by Bellarmine,* and 
admitted, I believe, universally,) that attrition, 
though by itself it will not do, yet with absolu- 
tion, is sufficient, 

It will be observed, that the Council has not 
declared, whether Attrition includes the Love 
of God in any measure or degree. The absence 
of any express affirmation would, in this case, 
seem to imply the negative. Yet the scandal, 
arising from such a doctrine, and the arguments 
raised against it by Protestant writers, have 
induced many of your divines to maintain that 
some degree of the love of God, an initial love 
of him, is necessary. But this doctrine is op- 
posed by other and higher authorities, in par- 
ticular by one, which is instar omnium, Clement 
XI. pronouncing ex cathedra in the well-known 
Bull " Unigenitus," a Bull admitted, I believe, 
after whatever difficulties, by all your Churches 
in Continental Europe. He has therein con- 
demned the following positions. 47. " The obe~ 
" dience of the law ought to flow from its source, 
" that is, love ; when the love of God is its prin- 
" ciple within, and the glory of God its end, 
" then the outer act is pure ; without it, it is no- 
" thing but hypocrisy, or false righteousness." 

* De Poenit. lib. ii. c. 18, ad finem. 



LOVE OF GOD NOT NECESSARY. 199 

49. " As there is no sin without self-love, so 
" there is no good work without the love of 
" God." These propositions, I say, are con- 
demned; and thus authority is given to the 
Jesuits, in whose especial favour that Bull 
issued, for maintaining that " Men are not 
i( obliged to love God in order to be reconciled 
*' to him in the Sacrament of Penance, nor to 
" refer all their actions to him ; that it is suffi- 
" cient to serve him through the fear of Hell ; 
" that those Sinners who have no better dispo- 
" sition than a strong fear of being damned ', 
" who repent of their crimes only on this mo- 
" tive, and who would, by consequence, in the 
" bottom of their heart, wish that there was no 
" such thing as Religion, are nevertheless in a 
" state to receive absolution, and that they ought 
" to be admitted to the Sacrament."* 

Such, Sir, is the doctrine for which the 
Church of Rome is answerable ; it flows from 
the very principle laid down by the Council of 
Trent, and has been virtually set forth (through 
condemnation of better principles) by the high- 
est authority of your Church. That these pro- 
fligate notions are not universally maintained I 

* La Constitution Ungenitus, avec des Remarques ct do 
Notes, p. 20. 



200 



INITIAL LOVE OF GOD. 



freely admit ; in particular, (as I think it fair to 
add,) not by the Class-Book* for the College 
of Maynooth. That work proceeds indeed with 
extreme caution in this particular ; it first lays 
down that an initial love may be compared to 
the morning-dawn, or to the incipient warmth of 
day (not however in its being followed of course by 
full day, but ) as the dawn is of the same nature 
with the full day, warm in one degree, while 
the more advanced stage is warm in two, three, 
four degrees, and so on : — " in like manner the 
" initial love may belong to the same species 
" with more advanced love, if both spring from 
" the same motive of either hope or charity." — 
Having described its subject in this very guarded 
manner, it proceeds to say that " the initial 
" love which is requisite for sufficient attrition 
" in the sacrament, must be conceived from the 
" latter motive, from charity, or love of God for 
" his own sake." And this is as far as the most 
enlarged view of the doctrine of the Council of 
Trent can enable its most ingenious Commen- 
tator to go. 

So much for the first of the Sinner's acts in 
this Sacrament, Contrition, or Repentance, that 
" Repentance," which Dr. Milner tells us, as 



* Tractatus de Poen. (aut. L A. Oelahogue) p. 108—110. 



AURICULAR CONFESSION. 



201 



we have before seen, " is indispensably neces- 
" sary for every grace that Repentance, which 
we have been lately assured by the most dis- 
tinguished Member of the House of Commons 
is the same with the repentance of the Church of 
England, in other words, with change of heart, 
hatred and utter abandonment of Sin, sincere 
and ardent love of God and holiness. 

The next particular is Confession, which I need 
scarcely add is not merely, as with us, a humble 
acknowledgment of our guilt before God, and a 
private or open acknowledgment of our offences 
against our neighbour (according as the duty of 
compensating the injury done to him shall re- 
quire); but it is a secret, indeed, but full and 
unreserved, disclosure of every mortal sin, with 
all the circumstances which may change the 
nature of it, to the Priest. Of venial Sins it is 
not necessary, though right and useful, to make 
a similar confession. But as for mortal sins, 
the penitent must explore every hidden thought 
and all the darkest recesses of his conscience, in 
order that he may make the confession as full 
and complete as possible.* This is enjoined by 

* Con. Trid. sess. xiv. c. 5. On the distinction between mortal 
and venial Sins, it is not necessary that I should here remark, 
beyond expressing a strong sense of the dangerous consequences 
to which it tends. 



202 



AURICULAR CONFESSION. 



the great Council of Laterane, to be done by 
every one, arrived at the years of discretion, at 
least once in every year, at Easter : # and al- 
though that provision is not indispensable, yet 
the Council of Trent hath decreed that Sacra- 
mental Confession is absolutely necessary to 
Salvation: an Anathema is pronounced against 
all who presume to say the contrary. | 

Such is the doctrine of your Church on this 
particular. On the practical mischiefs to which 
it leads, the opposite extremes of extreme scru- 
pulosity, and callous indifference, — still more, 
on its glaring tendency to rob the tender, un- 
hacknied, unseared conscience of youth, of that 
which is at once its best protection and its 
most appropriate grace, the delicacy of inge- 
nuous shame; on its telling those into whose 
young bosoms the first ideas of impurity never 
perhaps intruded, without exciting a thrill of 
terror, that they must dwell on the thought from 
which their better mind recoils ; that they are to 
register it faithfully in their memory, and in due 
time give utterance to it in the presence of one, 
whose sex ought to inspire them with dread, 
even if his character be as holy as his office,— 

* Concil. Labb. torn. xi. p. 174. 
■f* Con. Tiki. sess. xiv. can. 6. 



AURICULAR CONFESSION. 



203 



on these, and consequences scarcely less mis- 
chievous than these, I forbear to enlarge. Let 
me only say, that they are not imaginary. I 
have looked into a tract, which, you inform us, 
is the most popular of all your books of devotion, 
" The Garden of the Soul." I have read there, 
(I acknowledge it with pleasure) sentiments of 
piety as warm and as just, as the expression of 
them is beautiful : but I have also read one 
page — prescribing a course of self-examination 
previous to confession, — to which I cannot even 
allude without disgust. Nothing, I verily be- 
lieve, more loathsome, or polluting, could be 
found in the journal of a brothel. Tell us not, 
that the young penitent is not obliged to con- 
fess these things, such of them at least as fall 
short of mortal sin: the Catechism of Trent* 
requires that not only deeds and words, but 
even thoughts be recollected and confessed : the 
Council itself recommends the confession even 
of Venial Sins; and, if it did not, would you 
begin thus early to corrupt and harden their 
conscience by setting it to work on these nice 
distinctions ? 

But I turn to the remaining act of the peni- 
tent, Satisfaction. Satisfaction in general is 



* Con. Trid. sess. xiv. c. 9. 



204 



SATISFACTION. 



defined by the Catechism of Trent, perfect 
payment of a debt; and in the present case, 
the word is used to express the compensation 
made when a man pays to God something in full 
on account of Sins committed.* Sacramental 
Satisfaction is the discharging such penances 
as shall be enjoined by the Priest after Confes- 
sion. But it is not necessary to his obtaining 
the end and benefit of the sacrament, recon- 
ciliation with God, that he should complete this 
satisfaction. He may, if he choose, neglect all 
the penances enjoined him; and yet the grace 
of the sacrament, and the consequent right and 
title to admission into Heaven will remain 
unimpaired, so long as he does not fall again 
into mortal Sin. Meanwhile, the unfulfilled 
satisfaction (if also unremitted) will stand in 
account against him, and will remain to be 
discharged in Purgatory; unless some of the 
various expedients for his release, of which we 
have already seen and heard enough, be happily 
adopted. On this article therefore I shall not 
dwell; but shall proceed to Absolution. 

The words of the Priest, " I absolve thee/' 

* Est autem satisfactio, rei debitae integra solutio, &c. 
Quod ad mine locum attinet, doctores ad declaraodam earn 
compensationera usurparunt, cum homo pro peccatis commissi* 
Deo aliquid persolvit. Cat. Rom. p. 2. 



ABSOLUTION'. 



205 



are, I repeat, the form of the Sacrament, what 
makes it to be a Sacrament. And they confer, 
as is the property of a Sacrament, the grace 
which they signify. They confer reconciliation 
with God, absolution, or remission of all Sins, 
on those who receive the Sacrament with that 
Contrition, or Attrition, and that Confession 
which have been described; and be it remem- 
bered, that this grace of reconciliation with God 
(as I before said) can be obtained by those who 
have fallen into mortal Sin after Baptism, only 
in this Sacrament, ordinarily, never without the 
desire of it. " For not, as under the old Law, is 
u there now a poiuer in the Church given to Priests 
" only to declare any person to be absolved from sin: 
" but they do, as the Ministers of God, truly 
" absolve them : the same thing which God him- 
" self does, who is the A uthor and Father of grace 
" and righteousness " * 

The Council of Trent, indeed, distinctly and 
in the strongest terms decrees that the Priests 
are Judges, and their absolution strictly judicial. 
And this is stated by it to make an important 
difference between Baptism and this Sacrament, 
(and of course between the absolutions respec- 

* I quote here from the Dublin Edition of the Catechism of 
the Council of Trent faithfully translated into English by per- 
mission, p. 211. 



206 



ABSOLUTION. 



tively given in the two). " In Baptism the 
" Minister ought not to be a Judge, for the 
° Church exercises no judgment over those 
" who are not yet within it. But after Baptism 
" Sinners are not to be cleansed by a repetition 
" of Baptism, but they are to be made to stand 
<c as criminals before this tribunal, in order that 
" as often as penitents have recourse to it, after 
" sins committed, they may be released by the 
" sentence of the Priests."*' For " although 
" the absolution of the Priest be the dispensa- 
" tion of a benefit belonging to another, yet it 
<f is not merely a naked ministerial act of either 
" announcing the Gospel, or declaring that sins 
" are pardoned, but it is equivalent to a judicial 
" Act, wherein sentence is pronounced by himself, 
" as a Judge And this is afterwards re- 
affirmed with an anathema annexed on all who 
deny it.^ 

We have thus seen the doctrine of your 
Church respecting Confession and Absolution. 
You, in this instance, (as I have been sorry to 
find, in different degrees, is almost invariably 
your practice,) have contrived to evade the 
whole of the real question at issue between the 

* Con. Trid. Sess. xiv. c. 2. 

t C 6. ad instar actus judicialis, quo ab ipso, velut a judice, 
sententia pronunciatur. 
X Can. 9. 



CONFESSION IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 207 



two Churches, and have affected to perceive no 
difference between them. For this purpose 
you cite a passage from Dr. Milners End of 
Controversy, and another from Chillingworth, 
which do not at all touch on the points of dif- 
ference. Consult your own heart, Sir, and let 
that tell you, whether you have not here deeply, 
I had almost said, shamefully, prevaricated. You 
know that auricular confession is, with you, an 
essential part of a Sacrament, which, as you value 
your soul's salvation, you must perform. You 
also know, that, with us, the same Confession is 
not at all required as a necessary service, not as 
a part of repentance, not even of discipline: — 
that it is merely a matter recommended to those 
sinners whose troubled conscience admits not 
of being quieted by self-examination however 
close and searching, nor any other instruction 
however diligent; that he only who " reqidreth 
"further comfort or counsel" after all that he 
can do for himself, is invited to repair " to some 
" discreet and learned Minister of Gods word, 
" and open his grief; that by the Ministry of 
" God's holy word he may receive the benefit of 
" absolution together with ghostly counsel and 
" advice, to the quieting of his conscience and 
" avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness." 
Your spiritual guide, Dr. Milner, has thought 



208 CONFESSION IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

fit, with his usual fairness, to avoid quoting this 
passage which stands in our present office for 
the Communion, and therefore expresses plainly 
the meaning of our Church; but, instead of it, 
has had recourse to an order composed by 
Cranmer, for which we are not more respon- 
sible than for any thing in your Missal. And 
this he does, merely because he can thus for- 
ward his object of misrepresenting our practice 
in this particular a little (and but a very little) 
better, than by the production of the real lan- 
guage of our Church. — You, I am sorry to per- 
ceive, have not thought it beneath you to adopt 
his artifice. 

Without troubling myself to follow him or 
you minutely in this part of your work, I shall 
proceed to state briefly what else our Church 
teaches, or requires, in respect both to confes- 
sion, especially secret confession, and also to 
absolution. 

The Confession ordinarily required is only 
general and public Confession to Almighty God, 
made simultaneously by the whole congrega- 
tion, every individual being expected tacitly to 
include the acknowledgment of his particular 
transgressions under the general form. This 
Confession occurs at the beginning of Morning 
and Evening Prayer, and in a different form in 



ABSOLUTION IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 209 

the Office of Communion, and is always fol- 
lowed by Absolution. In the two former cases 
the nature of the absolving power committed by 
God to his Ministers is expressly stated ; it is 
" to declare and " (not only declare, but) " pro- 
" nounce " (that is, authoritatively declare in 
God's name) " to his people, being penitent, 
" the absolution and remission of their Sins;" 
and having made that statement, the Priest 
exercises his power by declaring that God then 
" pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly 
" repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy 
" Gospel." 

In the Communion Service, the Church does 
not again state the nature of the absolving power, 
(it would have been unnecessary,) but directs 
the Priest to exercise it in a somewhat different, 
an optative form. But this form is equivalent 
to the other: it consists of a declaration of 
God's general evangelical promises, and invokes 
the fulfilment of those promises in favour of 
those who have just made their humble con- 
fession to him. — Such is the ordinary confession 
and absolution of our Church. But in the 
office last mentioned, the Church further invites 
those who need ghostly counsel and advice, 
(in the terms already cited,) to have recourse 
to particular confession, and to seek the benefit 

p 



210 



CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION 



of particular absolution. And here again the 
nature of that particular absolution is distinctly 
intimated to be of the same kind as the two 
former instances of general absolution ; it is to 
be exercised (not by the judicial sentence of 
the Priest, after a process carried on before his 
tribunal, as your Church insists, but) " by the 
Ministry of God's holy word;" or an authoritative 
declaration of God's general promises applied 
in favour of that particular penitent, if he be 
indeed penitent. 

There remains one other instance, that in the 
Visitation of the Sick, which has been correctly 
though not fully cited by Dr. Milner. The Ru- 
bric requires, that at a certain part of this office 
" the sick person shall be moved by the Minister 
" to make a special Confession of his Sins, if he 
e< feel his conscience troubled with any weighty 
" matter." I have said that this is ordered 
at a certain 'part of the Office, and it is important 
that this be borne in mind. For so little is our 
Church inclined to encourage its Ministers in 
prying into the secrets of their penitents, that 
it enjoins every other step to be previously 
taken, before the last measure of particular 
confession be proposed. — " The Minister shall 
cc (first) examine whether he (the sick person) 
" repent him truly of his sins, and be in charity 



IN VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



211 



" with all the world ; exhorting him to forgive, 
" from the bottom of his heart, all persons that 
" have offended him ; and if he hath offended 
" any other, to ask them forgiveness; and 
" where he hath done injury or wrong to any 
" man, that he make amends to the utmost of 
" his power." 

Now, it is after he has done and said all this, 
— after he has satisfied himself on such general 
enquiry, whether the sick person have indeed 
a true sense of the awful condition in which he 
stands, of the nature and necessity of sincere 
repentance, and universal charity — and whether 
he have, by God's blessing, attained those 
graces, as well as learned the necessity of at- 
taining them, — that the ministers duty respect- 
ing particular confession is laid down. If from 
the sick man's answers to his enquiries he find 
him in a state of penitence and peace, his busi- 
ness is completed ; he is not authorized, — he is 
by implication forbidden, — to move him to any 
further disclosure : — and in this case (as it will 
be necessary to bear in mind) no absolution is 
pronounced, evidently because particular abso- 
lution is to be given in our Church only to those 
whose minds cannot be quieted without such 
especial application to them of God's general 
promises. — But if, after all general discourse 

p 2 



212 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION 

and advice on the nature of repentance and the 
means of making his peace with God have been 
exhausted, the sick man still exhibit signs of 
distrust and dismay, — he is to be asked, whether 
" he feel his conscience troubled with any 
" weighty matter:" and if he say that it is, 
then, and only then, he is " to be moved to a 
" special confession of his Sins ;" evidently, in 
the words of the former exhortation, that he 
may receive ghostly counsel and advice to the 
quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all 
scruple and doubtfulness. 

Now, as nothing can be more prudent than 
this reserve and backwardness in inviting* to 
secret confession, when the end of our ministry 
can be obtained without it, so nothing cer- 
tainly can be more necessary to the due dis- 
charge of the commission we have received, as 
Christ's Ministers, Christ's Ambassadors, ap- 
pointed and empowered to reconcile sinful man 
to God, than that, when all other instruction 
and means have failed, we should then require 
of those for whom we are to give account, that 
they enable us to know more clearly of their 
state ; that they tell us specially what it is that 
weighs them down, and deprives them of that 
most important grace and duty, Christian hope. 
" Confess your sins to God," such is our coun- 



IN VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



213 



sel, 44 we wish not, we seek not to know them; 
44 but if you cannot otherwise apply what you 
44 have been taught of God's general promises to 
44 your own case, unbosom yourself freely to us, 
44 — tell us, in that sacred confidence which 
44 ought to subsist between a Christian minister 
44 and him who is about to stand before his 
44 Judge, — tell us what it is which thus shakes 
44 your soul with dread, and renders you inca- 
44 pable of the holy consolations of the Gospel 
44 of Peace. Your very terrors prove at least, 
44 that you are not hardened ; that your state is 
44 better than that of the unhappy soul, which 
44 is ready to wing its flight into an eternal 
44 world, in stupid and reckless insensibility to 
44 its danger. We are ordained to preach the 
44 glad tidings of great joy ; to minister the word 
44 of God ; to pronounce the pardon of God over 
44 all who with true faith turn unto him. And 
44 weak though we be, — sinners, miserable sin- 
44 ners, though we be, — we have yet the promise 
44 of Him, who cannot lie, that he 4 will be with 
4 4 4 us alway even unto the end of the world,' — 
44 that he will bless his own ordinances, and make 
44 them, when duly ministered and devoutly 
44 received, effectual to the salvation of men." 

You, Sir, in all this will, I am sure, see 
nothing to condemn, except the caution and 



214 



ABSOLUTION 



hesitation with which we admit the special 
communications of the penitent. You know 
that this is the onty case, in which we venture 
to urge the practice of secret confession — the 
case of him, for whom nothing else will do:— 
that we are indeed ready to receive it, if ten- 
dered for the purpose of quieting a perplexed 
conscience, at any time, and especially to ena- 
ble the penitent to approach the table of the 
Lord in faith and hope. — But you also know, 
that in the main course of our exhortation and 
practice in this particular, we are directly op- 
posed to the Church of Rome. Why then will 
you be so uncandid, as to affect to think that 
we are alike ? why will you be so weak (par- 
don the expression), as to throw out to every 
adversary, who may choose to use it, an op- 
portunity of chiding you as I do now ? 

But it may be said, " a particular absolution 
" is given to him who has made a particular eon- 
" fession — true, it is enjoined in the Rubric, 
that after what has preceded, if the sick man 
humbly and heartily desire it, the priest shall 
absolve him in the form annexed, a form, the 
meaning of which, if it be ambiguous, must be 
understood from comparison with the express 
doctrine, and uniform practice, of our Church, 
in all the preceding instances. But even in 



IN VISITATION OF THE SICK. 



215 



this very form there is an implied declaration 
■of the nature of the absolving power ; it is given 
" to absolve all sinners who truly repent and 

believe in our Lord Jesus Christ;" and there- 
fore on the penitent's " humbly and heartily de- 
" siring it" (the very terms imply the sincerity 
both of his repentance and his faith) the Priest 
feels himself at liberty to use it, and to say 
" By Christ's authority committed to me," an 
authority the limits of which have been just 
before stated, " I absolve thee from all thy sins, 
" in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
" and of the Holy Ghost." Need I add, that it 
is immediately followed by a prayer to God " to 
" consider the sick penitent's contrition, to ac- 
" cept his tears, to assuage his grief as shall seem 

to the Divine Wisdom most expedient for him ? 
Would this be consistent with & judicial absolu- 
tion already given to the penitent ? We have seen 
then, Sir, the real meaning of that absolution, 
which you affect to believe, and persons of less 
information than you, really believe, the same 
with that which is claimed and exercised by 
the priesthood of the Church of Rome. It 
has been explained by reference to clearer and 
more express declarations of our absolving 
power ; and if you will not take our assertions 
of the meaning of a part of our own Liturgy, 



216 ABSOLUTION IN VISITATION OF THE SICK. 

(particularly when our explanation rests on the 
uniform analogy of our doctrine on this parti- 
culars—with what right, I had almost said, 
with what face, can we be asked to understand 
(as yet we are unwilling to understand, on the 
declaration of your Church) the language of 
your own Indulgences, which grant to those 
who acquire them " pardon of all their sins," 
to mean no more than a remission of the tem- 
poral punishment still due to sins which have 
been remitted before ? 

But, even if the power of absolution exercised 
in our office of visiting the sick, were the very 
same with that of your priesthood, would there 
be no difference between claiming and exercis- 
ing the power in so extreme a case, and with 
so much of interposed check and caution 
against the frequent use of it, that it very rarely 
indeed is in fact exercised, — and that doc- 
trine of yours, which requires your people to 
have recourse to it at least once in every year, 
and makes it (I repeat) even indispensably ne- 
cessary to salvation ? 

Before I quit the subject of this letter, I must 
not forget to remark on one particular, which is 
urged against us, not only by you,* but by 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 107. note. 



CANON ON CONFESSION. 



217 



many others. We are often reminded, that 
" to encourage the secret confession of sins, 
" the Church of England has made a Canon, 
" requiring her Ministers not to reveal the 
" same." It is most true; and, if no Canon 
had been made, I trust there are few Ministers 
of that Church, of whom it would be suspected, 
that under any circumstances, or by the threat 
of any earthly punishment, they could be in- 
duced to publish what was confided to them 
under that most sacred seal.* I am aware, that, 
some few years ago, this Canon was recited in 
the House of Commons, to prove, forsooth, that 
because there was a secret confession in the 
Church of England, as well as in that of Rome, 
therefore, the doctrine, if not the practice, of 
both must be in this particular the same. It 
might as well have been argued, that because 
there was a Parliament in England, and a Par- 
liament in Paris, therefore the powers and 
functions of the one must have been the same 
as those of the other. Yet several honourable 
Members expressed their astonishment at the 
wondrous discovery; and one, in particular, 
from whom, of all present, it was least to be 
expected, exclaimed, in a paroxysm of jealousy 

* See Supplemental Letter, 



218 SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

for the honour of our Church, that " it must be 
" a Canon of the Church of Rome." 

Of that honourable assembly, to which I have 
here alluded, I trust that I shall not be thought 
likely to speak in terms of purposed disrespect. 
But I may without offence be permitted to 
observe, that the Reports of what passes in its 
deliberations on subjects like those, which I am 
now treating, do not always tend to heighten our 
veneration for it. If " there is no royal road to 
" Philosophy," neither is there any Parliamen- 
tary short-cut in the science of Divinity: — here 
Privilege is of no further use, than to enable its 
possessors to speak peremptorily in a high place, 
without always " knowing what they say, or 
" whereof they affirm;" in short, " honourable 
" members," and even " honourable and learned 
" members," must be content to be ignorant, 
where they will not take the trouble to be in- 
formed ; and if they think fit to proclaim their 
ignorance, they have only to thank themselves 
for any exposure to which it subjects them. I 
will not mention names: — that is unnecessary. 
But we read in the Newspapers, not many 
weeks ago, that an honourable and learned 
Gentleman, arguing in favour of what is called 
Catholic Emancipation, was pleased to say, 
" we have heard much of Auricular Confession; 



SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 219 



" and no man could doubt the perversion that 
" was made of that religious rite. Would it be 
" believed, that, though disused in the Re- 
" formed Church, the Canon, and the words of 
" Absolution, were the same as is practised in the 
" Church of Ro?ne? So would it be disused in the 
" Catholic, if your degrading qualification did 
" not interfere." 

On another recent occasion, an Honourable 
(not, I believe, a learned) Gentleman, said, that 
" he wished to advert to another point, upon 

which a serious error prevailed in this coun- 
" try: — he meant the impression, that the Ro- 
" man Catholic Clergy were in the habit of 
" forgiving sin. He assured the House, there 
" ivas not a more fallacious idea. The Catholic 
" Priests, in giving what teas called Absolution, 
" did no thing more than was done by the Arch- 
" bishop of Canterbury upon similar occasions: 
" ( Hear, hear, hear,): aye, and in precisely the 
" same words, too! that is to say, they promise 
"forgiveness to those who declare themselves peni- 
" tent, and express a wish and hope to be forgiven. 
" That forgiveness was pronounced by the Pro- 
" testant and Roman-Catholic Clergy precisely 
" in the same words and in the same spirit"!* 

* While this sheet was in the hands of the Printer, a debate 
has occurred, in which this point has been still more gravely' 



20 SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



maintained, and by higher authority. In particular, one Right 
Honourable Gentleman, who is hailed by universal acclama- 
tion as the brightest ornament of the House, is reported to have 
thus expressed himself : " There is a sentence in our own 
" Prayer-Book for the Visitation of the Sick, where the very 
" same doctrine is asserted in the very same words, as those 
" stated by Dr. Doyle before the Committee," on which state- 
ment of Dr. Doyle, as containing an accurate and full account 
of the doctrine of the Roman-Catholics, he had previously ex- 
pressed his entire and confident reliance. I will not argue this 
question again, nor restate the doctrine of the Church of Eng- 
land, but I must seriously deplore the mischief likely to arise 
from all this rashness, and must venture earnestly to entreat 
Honourable Members to forbear making such matters the sub- 
ject of Parliamentary discussion, as long as they think it so 
little necessary to be accurately acquainted with them. Can it 
be borne in mind, that what is said in Parliament, particularly 
by the very distinguished individual to whom I have last alluded, 
is not only read with eagerness in every village in the kingdom, 
but is circulated abroad, and preserved at home, as among the 
most valuable materials of history? Will it do honour either 
to the Speaker, or to the Church of which he is a member, that 
such statements of her supposed doctrine on the most important 
practical point on which she is opposed to the Church of Rome, 
should have been made by him in so high a place and on so 
grave an occasion ? 

While T am on this subject, I shall not scruple to illustrate 
the value of Parliamentary Investigations of religious matters 
by reference to the evidence taken before the Committee of the 
Upper House, on this very Office for " the Visitation of the 
" Sick." Dr. Doyle (there a sworn witness) is asked, and 
answers the following questions. 

Q. Are you acquainted with the Service for the Sick in the 
Common Prayer Book of the Established Church? A. Yes. 



SPEECHES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 221 



Q. In that service, where a Protestant applies for the Special 
Interference of Providence for the relief of the Sick Person, where 
no human help can avail, does he appear to you to ask for more 
than has been granted, in your opinion, in the case of Prince 
Hohenloe ? 

A. Precisely the same ; but in the case of Prince Hohenloe 
it was granted in a more special and striking degree. — Report 
of Lords Committee, p. 399. 

Now will it be believed, that there actually is no such prayer 
in our Office? that, on the contrary, instead of making any suppli- 
cation for the special interference of Providence, there is the most 
marked and guarded abstinence from such a petition? This shall 
be proved by producing the real prayer itself — one of the most 
touching ever composed by man. It may serve, besides, as the 
best illustration of the real doctrine of the church of England 
respecting the spiritual state of the sick, and the true grounds 
of their hopes of pardon from God : it will, in short, put to 
shame, if any thing can, the miserable special pleading, which 
has been employed, to prove that Confession and Absolution, 
with us, are the same, or almost the same, as in the Church of 
Rome. 

A Prayer for a Sick Person, when there appeareth small hope 
* of Recovery. 

u O Father of Mercies, and God of all Comfort, our only help 
" in time of need ; we fly unto thee for succour, in behalf of 
" this thy servant, now lying under thy hand in great weakness 
" of body. Look graciously upon him, O Lord : and the more 
" the outward man decayeth, strengthen him, we beseech thee, 
" so much the more continually with thy grace and Holy Spirit 
" in the inner man. Give him unfeigned repentance for all the 
" errors of his life past, and stedfast faith in thy Son Jesus ; 
" that his sins may be done away by thy mercy, and his pardon 
" sealed in heaven, before he go hence, and be no more seen. 



222 SPEECHES IX THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



" We know, O Lord, that there is no word impossible with 
" Thee; and that, if Thou wilt, Thou canst yet Faise him up, 
" and grant him a longer continuance amongst us : Yet, for- 
" asmuch as in all appearance the time of his dissolution draw- 
" eth near, so fit and prepare him, we beseech Thee, against 
" the hour of death, that after his departure hence in peace, 
" and in thy favour, his soul may be received into thine ever- 
" lasting kingdom, through the merits and mediation of Jesus 
*? Christ, thine only Son, our Lord and Saviour." 

This Prayer is, by implication, treated by the Committee of 
the House of Lords, as the same with the mummery of Prince 
Ilohenloe! and is expressly pronounced by Dr. Doyle, on his 
Oath, to be (as far as regards its petition) precisely the same! 



( 223 ) 



LETTER X. 

On the supposed legal necessity of a Minister of the 
Church of England giving evidence in a Court of Jus- 
tice of what has been confided to him in Confession. 

It is not very long ago, since we were told in 
the Report of a Trial at Law, that a learned 
Judge permitted an obiter dictum to fall from 
him, of which I may be allowed to say that it 
filled the breast of many a true friend of our 
Church with pain and amazement. Besides 
expressing a very strong opinion against the 
propriety of confidential communications, es- 
pecially between clergymen and accused or 
suspected persons, and saying that nothing of 
such confidence is recognised in the doctrine of 
the Church of England, whatever might be the 
case in the Roman Communion, (in all which I 
sincerely believe there must have been some 
very gross error in the report) — he is said to 
have intimated, that the law of England does 
not protect the Priesthood of its own Church 
from the necessity of disclosing in evidence 
what has been confided to them under the seal 
of Confession. 



224 IS CONFESSION TO A PRIEST PROTECTED 

As this was, I repeat, merely an obiter dic- 
tum, not a point deliberately ruled, I trust I 
shall not be deemed presumptuous, if I submit 
one or two considerations, which make me 
hope, that, if the matter ever come to be for- 
mally adjudged, the decision must be different. 

In its consequences to your Priesthood, I 
feel no exultation. It is, I conceive, clearly 
and undeniably just, that they, too, should be 
protected. To enforce the opposite opinion, — 
which, however, has been ruled in Ireland, and 
doubtless soundly ruled, to be the law of the 
land,* — would be the most grievous act of 
persecution that could be inflicted, not on your 
Priest only, but also on your People. They 
are bound by the strongest obligations of their 
religion, to confess their sins; and if the sins so 
confessed are charged on them as crimes, they 
are, in fact, punished by human judicatures for 
obedience to the demands of religion in a point 
by no means criminal. The law, whilst it dis- 
claims and discourages every mode of seeking 
confession, would in that case make use of the 
most powerful of all instruments even to extort 
it. Still, with all this evil annexed to it, I 
apprehend that the principle in the law of evi- 

* See Starkies Law of Evidence. 



FROM DISCLOSURE IN EVIDENCE ? 225 

dence, which recognizes no ground of privileged 
communication, but the confidence between 
attorney and client, and the public policy of 
the land, — leaves your Priesthood quite unpro- 
tected ; while the ground on which I should 
venture to submit, that the Clergy of the Church 
of England are protected, does not extend to 
yours. 

The dictum of the learned Judge, to which I 
have alluded, is understood to rest on a case 
cited inPeake's N. P. C. 3 Ed. p. 108. DuBarre 
v. Livette. On that occasion, a case, K. v. Sparkes, 
was quoted as having occurred on the Northern 
Circuit before Mr. J. Bailer ; but of which I 
am enabled by one of the Counsel for the Pri- 
soner to state, that the facts were materially dif- 
ferent from the statement given in Peake. They 
were briefly as follows : — The Prisoner, who 
was charged with murder at the assizes for 
Northumberland, in 1787, was a Member of 
the Church of England (not a Papist, as the 
case states) who had gone to a Clergyman of 
his own Church, and confessed to him. That 
Clergyman was afterwards required to give 
evidence of the Confession, and an objection 
to it taken by the Prisoner's Counsel was over- 
ruled by Mr. J. Wilson, (before whom, not Mr. 
J. Butter, the case was tried,) after consulting 



226 IS CONFESSION TO A PRIEST PROTECTED 



with the other Judge of Assize, the late Lord 
Loughborough. When this case was quoted in 
Du Barrh v. Livette, Lord Kenyon said, " It 
" is sufficient for me, sitting here, to say, that 
" this case materially differs from that cited; but 
" I should have paused, before I admitted the evi- 
" dence there received. The case, as it respects 
" the Judge who determined it, is entitled to 
u every attention from me : but this case differs 
" from it."* Such an intimation of Lord Ken- 
yons opinion will be a sufficient excuse for me, 
in presuming to think, that the late dictum 
may, perhaps, be found to be not entirely well- 
grounded. 

But against the application of the general 
principle of the law of Evidence to confession 
made to a Priest, however I may lament it, 
however I may think, (as I certainly do think,) 
that substantial justice would require, that this 
also be a privileged communication, I do not 
venture to argue. It is on a special ground of 

* His Lordship, on the supposition of the prisoner having 
been (as was erroneously stated in the case cited to him) a 
Papist, proceeded to say, et The Popish religion is now unknown 
t( to the law of this country" implying, I submit, that if it were 
known to the law, its ordinances would be recognized ; and, 
consequently, that the religion of the Church of England being 
known to the law, its ordinances must be admitted and sanc- 
tioned by it. 



FROM DISCLOSURE TX EVIDFXCF ? 



227 



law in our case, which appears to have been 
not adverted to in the argument before Mr. J . 
Wilson, that I would rest our claim to protection. 

The Liturgy and Rubrics of the Church of Eng- 
land are, — (I will not say, part of the law of 
the land; that might be going too far; though 
that, I believe, has been said, — but they are) 
not merely recognized by it, as containing 
nothing but what is true, and enjoining nothing 
but what is fit, — they are regarded by the law as 
pointing out, in all particulars included in them, the 
real duty of Christians. The 13th and 14th 
Charles II. c. 4. enjoins the use of the Book of 
Common Prayer " to the intent that every Per- 
son in this realm may certainly know the rule to 
which he is to conform m public Worship, and ad- 
ministration of Sacraments, and other rites and 
ceremonies of the Church of England.' 1 Now, 
we have already seen, that, in certain circum- 
stances, the Rubric, thus highly sanctioned, en- 
joins secret Confession to a Priest, as a part of 
Christian Duty, and that the Liturgy, in another 
place, specially invites the penitent to similar 
confession. Does, then, the Law of England 
subject to civil mischiefs of the gravest kind 
those who comply with what it admits to be 
their duty as Christians, because they comply 
with it ? Is it thus, that the great boast of 

q2 



228 IS CONFESSION TO A PRIEST PROTECTED? 

Englishmen is realized, that Christianity is part 
of the common law of the land ? 

But this is not all. If the Clergyman is 
bound to reveal in Evidence what has been 
communicated to him in Confession, he is also 
bound to reveal it, in case of felony, without 
waiting to be summoned as a witness at all. If 
he does not, he is guilty of misprision of fe- 
lony.* Will a principle, drawing this mon- 
strous consequence after it, be maintained ? 
Shall the Clergyman be subjected to fine and 
imprisonment for not disclosing to man, what 
the law of God commands him to conceal ? 
But to this extent the principle, if it be a sound 
one, must be confessed to lead. 

On these accounts, with the highest respect 
for the quarter from which the late dicftim pro- 
ceeded, I venture to protest against it,— to say 
that, while I trust, if such be the law, no minis- 
ter of the Church of England would feel him- 
self at liberty to comply with it, I at the same 
time cannot but indulge a hope, that the dictum 
itself will be found erroneous. 

But, I return to my discussions with you. 

* 4 Blackstone, 121. This liability to an Indictment for 
Misprision of Felony would,, perhaps, justify a refusal to answer 
any question of the kind supposed. But most of ray Brethren 
would probably decline to rest their refusal on such a plea, 



( 229 ) 



LETTER XI. 

Augustine and Pelagius. 

Your next subject is one with which I shall 
not harass myself. The merits of the dispute 
between Augustine and Pelagius have no im- 
mediate or close connection with our main 
enquiry ; nor do they admit of being discussed 
with tolerable accui'acy in a short or hasty 
manner. But it would be uncandid in me to 
dissemble, that I think you have here a mani- 
fest advantage. I think Mr. Southey's judg- 
ment on the questions between them erroneous, 
or, at the best, very incomplete, in one main 
particular, the free-will of man ; if that free- 
will be understood by him to include (as Mr. 
Southey's language would lead us to suppose) 
the power of " turning to God," and " work- 
" ing righteousness," without any internal suc- 
cours of the divine Spirit. That Mr. Southey 
has not expressly assented to Pelagius s notions 
on this head, is very true ; but that he has not 
expressly condemned them, when brought im- 
mediately under his review, is, I think, to be 



230 



AUGUSTINE AND PELAG1US. 



lamented : — The more so, because the very 
handsome terms, in which he speaks of Pela- 
gius, might lead to the inference, (which yet, I 
am persuaded, would not be true,) that in the 
chief part of his doctrine he considers him to 
have been right. 

Of Augustine I will only say, that for talents 
and learning, for honesty, sincerity, and can- 
dour ; for meekness, and, in the main,* for cha- 
rity ; for Christian zeal and devotion to the 
cause of Truth, he is entitled to higher praise, 
than it is here necessary to give. That not- 
withstanding all these high qualities, he fell 
into more dangerous errors than almost any 
other Father of the Church, is only a lamentable 
instance of the infirmity of " poor human na- 
" ture." Bonum virum facile dixerim, mag- 
num libenter. 

* I say, in the main ; because I cannot join you in giving 
unqualified praise for charity to the author of the following 
sentence, which is, however, made part of your Holy Canons. 
Decret. Greg. 1. v. tit. 7. 

Firmissime tene, et nullatenus dubites, omnem haereticum 
vel schisinaticum cum diabolo et angelis ejus seterni ignis in- 
cendio participandum, nisi ante finem vitse Catholicae fuerit in- 
corporate et redintegratus ecclesice. Aug, de Fide Cath. 



( 231 ) 



LETTER XII. 



Transubstantiation — Heal Presence as maintained by the 
Church of England. Test Act. Adoration of the 
Host. 

Of the truth or falsehood of the doctrine of 
Transubstantiation, it is no part of my present 
business to treat. And I am glad that it is not ; 
for I could have no hope of setting in a new 
or clearer light a question, which for centu- 
ries has been discussed by the ablest and most 
learned of men. Happily, too, I have in this 
instance no reason to complain of any wish on 
the part of yourself, or Dr. Milner, to disguise 
or dissemble the doctrine of your Church. 
Here, therefore, it might be expected that I 
should have nothing left to do : but this, I am 
sorry to say, is far from being the case. Your 
and your reverend friend's labours on this subject 
will give me some trouble ; and not least in en- 
deavouring to discover what you are both about. 
You applaud him to the very Echo for the great 
ability he has shewn in choosing and maintaining 
his ground. " I do in my heart love a strong 



232 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DR. MILNER 

" argument," you exclaim, and you point to 
the object of your ardent love in the letters of 
Dr. Milner in his End of Controversy* on the 
subject of Transubstantiation. Now, Sir, of 
the sincerity of this love of yours, I have not 
the smallest doubt : I only marvel at the sin- 
gular manner in which it displays itself. So 
Platonic an affection was, I verily believe, 
never before exhibited. You not only seek 
no enjoyment of the object of your love, but 
you actually run away from it, and never once 
treat yourself with even a sidelong glance. In 
plain truth, you do not seem to know what it 
really is. 

The main part of Dr. Milner s letters on this 
subject is directed to shew, that the presence 
of Christ in the Sacrament is real, not figura- 
tive. " This being determined," says he, " it 
" will be time enough, and, in my opinion, it 
" will not require a long time, to conclude 
" upon the manner of his presence, whether by 
" Consubstantiation, or Transubstantiation."')' 
He then says, what amounts to this, that 
" the language of the Church of England is 

* " Book of the Roman-Catholic Church," &c. p. 116. 
where there is also reference to two other works of Dr. Milner^ 
of which I know nothing. 

t End of Controversy, p. 268, 



AND MR. BUTLER. 



233 



•1 chosen for the purpose of disguising its real 
" sentiments, and making it be believed that 
" she holds the doctrine of the Real Pre- 
" sence, while, in fact, it is certain and con- 
" fessed that she does not." These are the points 
Dr. Milner undertakes to prove ; and which 
we must suppose, from the way in which you 
extol his argument, you think that he has 
succeeded in proving. These, therefore, one 
would expect, are also the points, which, if 
you thought it needless again to prove them, 
you would at least make the basis of your own 
observations. But no such thing. Your argu- 
ment (as in courtesy, I suppose, it must be 
called) proceeds on a supposition the very 
contrary to Dr. Milner's, namely, that the 
doctrine of the real presence is the doctrine of 
the Church of England: for you say, that " no 
" Protestant who believes the real 'presence ( and 
" all Protestants of the established Church of 
" England profess to believe it ) can conscien- 
" tiously swear, or even simply affirm, * that 
" * there is no Trans ubstantiation in the Eu- 
" ' charist.' " 

I hope, Sir, you will forgive me, I am sure 
my readers will, if after this I do not think it 
necessary to follow you regularly through your 
discussion of this point. I leave you in the 



234 



SOPHISMS OF 



hands of your own master, Dr. Milner. He was 
wont, in olden times, to call you a " smatterer 
" in Theology:" how far he thinks you im- 
proved, since you have put yourself under his 
tuition, I do not know. But at all events, I 
trust you will find him merciful in his discipline. 

The course which I shall adopt, is, first, to 
disentangle the question from the sophisms 
on which Dr. Milner's arguments rest; and 
then to state the doctrine of the Church of 
England respecting the real presence of our 
Lord in the Eucharist. I shall afterwards no- 
tice certain collateral points introduced by you 
and Dr. Milner, and more especially some of 
your and his citations of authorities. 

First, then, Dr. Milner's argument rests on 
two sophisms, which it will be found worth 
while to expose, as they are commonly adopted 
by the modern advocates of your Church. 

The first is a petitio principii; he begs, or, 
rather, he boldly runs away with, the very 
matter in dispute. He assumes that the real 
presence is, and can only be, the corporal and 
material presence of the crucified Saviour ; 
such a presence as can only be effected by 
changing the sacramental Elements into the 
body and blood of Christ, or by making both 
substances to be united in one: whereas, as 



DR. M1LNKR. 



235 



shall be shewn presently, and as Dr. Milner 
perfectly well knows, the Church of England 
holds a real presence of a very different kind. 

The other sophism rests on an ambiguous mean- 
ing of the word Sacrament ; a word sometimes, 
and more strictly, applied to the sign, or matter, 
sometimes to the whole sacred rite. Now, it is 
in the former sense, that the Church of Rome 
holds the real presence of the body and blood of 
Christ in the Sacrament; it is in the latter that 
the real presence in the Sacrament, maintained 
by the Church of England, must be sought. 
The Church of Rome holds that the body and 
blood of Christ are present under the accidents 
of bread and wine ; the Church of England holds 
that their real presence is in the Soul of the 
Communicant at the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper. 

Having thus cleared our way, I proceed to state 
more fully what is indeed the doctrine of our 
Church on this subject. She holds then, that after 
the consecration of the bread and wine they are 
changed not in their nature but in their use; that 
instead of nourishing our bodies only, they now 
are instruments by which, when worthily re- 
ceived, God gives to our souls the body and 
blood of Christ to nourish and sustain them: 
that this is not a fictitious, or imaginary, exhibi- 



236 



REAL PRESENCE 



tion of our crucified Redeemer to us, but a real 
though spiritual one, more real, indeed, because 
more effectual, than the carnal exhibition and 
manducation of him could be, (for the flesh 
profiteth nothing.) In the same manner, then, 
as our Lord himself said, " I am the true bread 
" that came down from heaven," (not meaning 
thereby that he was a lump of baked dough, 
or manna, but the true means of sustaining the 
true life of man, which is spiritual, not cor- 
poreal,) so, in the sacrament, to the worthy 
receiver of the consecrated elements, though 
in their nature mere bread and wine, are yet 
given truly, really, and effectively, the crucified 
body and blood of Christ; that body and blood 
which were the instruments of man's redemp- 
tion, and upon which our spiritual life and 
strength solely depend. It is in this sense that 
the crucified Jesus is present in the sacrament 
of his supper, not in, nor with, the bread and 
wine, nor under their accidents, but in the 
souls of communicants; not carnally, but ef- 
fectually and fruitfully, and therefore most 
really.* 

* That this is the doctrine of our Church on the real pre- 
sence, I prove by reference to these words of the twenty- 
eighth article, " To such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, 
" receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking 
" of the Body of Christ ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing 



ACCORDING TO CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 237 



Having thus stated the doctrine of our 
Church, I proceed to other matters, to the cita- 
tions of authorities by Dr. Milner and yourself. 
And, first, respecting the real presence, " the 
" main point under consideration," (Dr. Milner 
tells us*). He names three witnesses from 
among the divines of our Church, Archbishop 
Bramhall, Bishop Cosin, and Hooker, " the testi- 
" monies of whom for the real presence ," (of course 
he must mean the real presence acknowledged 
by his own Church,) (i are as explicit as Catholics 

" is a partaking of the Blood of Christ — to the Church 
Catechism, " The body and blood of Christ are verily and in- 
" deed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper," 
and " the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body 
" and blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and wine :" 
also to the Communion service, " Grant us^ gracious Lord, so 
" to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his 
" blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, 
" and our souls washed through his most precious blood 5 and 
" that he may evermore dwell in us, and we in him :" — to 
the words of the administering the sacrament, <( The body 
" of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee— the 
" blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee 
" — preserve thy body and soul unto eternal life :" — lastly to 
the thanksgiving after receiving it, " We most heartily thank 
" thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly 
" received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the 
" most precious body and blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus 
" Christ j and dost assure us thereby, that we are very raem- 
" bers incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son.'.' 
* p. 273. 



238 



ARCHBISHOP BRAMHALL 



" themselves can wish them to be" " The near 
" or rather the close approach of these, and other 
" eminent Protestant Divines, to the constant 
" doctrine of the Catholic Church on this princi- 
" pal subject of modern controversy, is evi- 
" dently to be ascribed to the perspicuity and 
" force of the declaration of Holy Scripture." 
After this opening speech, he calls his wit- 
nesses; the first is Archbishop Bramhall, who 
writes thus: " No genuine son of the Church 
" (of England) did ever deny a true real pre- 
" sence. Christ said this is my body, and what 
" he said we stedfastly believe. He said neither 
" con nor sub nor trans : therefore we place 
" these among the opinions of schools, not among 
" articles of faith"* 

I know not what your experience of your 
reverend friend may enable you to believe 
respecting him ; but my readers in general will 
hardly suppose it possible, that the words which 
he has had the confidence to cite as a proof of 
Archbishop Bramhall's " near or rather close 
" approach to the constant doctrine of your 
" Church," are part of a sentence written pro- 
fessedly against trans ubstantiation, and that in 
the original it stands as follows: " Having 
" viewed all your strength with a single eye, 



* Ansvver to De la Militiere,, p. 15. 



UNFAIRLY CITED BY DR. MILNER. 



239 



" / find not one of your arguments, that comes to 
" transubstantiation 9 but only to a true real pre- 
" sence, which no genuine son of the Church did 
" ever deny. — Christ said," &c. 

The next is Bishop Cosin. He is declared 
by Dr. Milner to be " not less explicit in favor 
" of the Catholic doctrine." He says, " It is a 
" monstrous error to deny that Christ is to be 
" adored in the Eucharist. We confess the 
" necessity of a supernatural and heavenly 
" change, and that the signs cannot become 
" sacraments but by the infinite power of God. 
" If any one make a bare figure of the sacra- 
" ment, we ought not to suffer him in our 
" Churches."* Why, Sir, there is not a syl- 
lable in all this, which carries Dr. Milner a 
single step on his way to prove that Bishop 
Cosin thought with the Church of Rome on 
any point contested with her by the Church of 
England. Who among us denies, that Christ 
is to be adored in the Eucharist? or the neces- 
sity of a supernatural and heavenly change ? or 
that signs can become sacraments only by the 
infinite power of God ? What member of the 
Church of England would be acknowledged by 
his Church in making a bare figure of the 



Hist, of Transubstantiation. 



240 



BISHOP COSIN. 



sacrament? Again, Cosin is quoted in another 
place* as saying " Christ is present really and 
" substantially^ an incomprehensible mystery." 
Why, so he is ; and so we have shewn that the 
Church of England maintains, understanding 
substantially to mean, what Cosin (if indeed he 
has used the word| as quoted) must intend 
it to mean, not carnally or corporeally, but in 
power and effect, in rei veritate, not by fiction. 
For thus, in the same tract, he writes expressly, J 
" The divines of the reformed Church think 
"very differently from the Church of Rome 
" on the subject of transubstantiation. But 
" all change of the bread into the body of 
" Christ (and of the wine in like manner into 
" his blood) no protestant absolutely denies. For 
" they know and admit that the bread in the 
" Eucharist is by the force of the words and 
" benediction of Christ entirely changed in its 
" condition, use, and office, that is, instead of 
" being common and ordinary, it is made to us 
" mystical and sacramental food; by which all 
" affirm and confidently believe, that the real 
" body of Christ is not merely signified, or 

* End of Controversy, p. 266. 

*f* I say this, because I cannot find it in the page 44, to which 
Dr. Milner refers, nor in any other, 
t p. 38. 



BISHOP COSIN. 



241 



** shadowed out by a figure, but is also in very 
4S deed at the same time exhibited, and is re- 
" ceived in the souls of those who worthily 
" communicate. Meanwhile, that the bread 
" loses its substance and passes into the sub- 
" stance of Christ's body, they by no means 
" believe ; since neither Scripture, nor the an- 
" cient Interpreters of Scripture, for many 
" ages, have ever transmitted to us the notion 
" of such a conversion or essential transmuta- 
e( tion, by which the substance, that is, the 
" matter and form of the bread, would be lost; 
" but only a sacramental and mystic change, so 
** that it is destined to another office, use, and 
<e end ; a change, indeed, according with the 
" divine grace as well as power, which does 
" not abolish, but preserves the natural essence of 
ie things, and uses it to super natural effects 

In short, if I were to quote all that Cosin 
says in this tract against the doctrine of the 
Church of Rome, in favour of which he is cited 
as a witness, I should transcribe the whole of 
it. Let me only add one brief sentence more, 
on the notion that difficulties respecting the 
possibility of Transubstantiation may be an- 
swered by considering the power of God. 
" We decline," says he, " considering what 
*' God can do : for we ought to be assured re- 
ft 



242 



HOOKER. 



" specting his ivill, before we trouble ourselves 
" with enquiring about his potver. This, how- 
" ever, we say, that this Transubstantiation of 
(( the Romans is a sort of portent, which exceeds 
" the nature of all miracles.'" * 

The last witness called to this point by Dr. 
Milner, is " the justly esteemed divine," " the 
" profound Hooker." For he too, we are told, 
makes " a near or rather close approach to the 
" doctrine of your Church." " I wish men 
" would give themselves more to meditate, with 
" silence, on what we have in the sacrament, 
" and less to dispute of the matter how. Sith 
" we all agree that Christ, by the sacrament, 
" doth really and truly perform in us his pro- 
" mise, why do we vainly trouble ourselves 
" with so fierce contentions, whether by Con- 
" substantiation, or else by Transubstantia- 
" tion ?" t 

Why, Sir, this advice is exactly what the 
Church of England has shewn its earnest desire 
to follow. It has sought to include in its 
communion all who will regard Transubstan- 
tiation, and Consubstantiation, only as specula- 

* Hoc tamen dicimus, Transubstantiationera istam Romanam 
genus esse portenti, quod omnium superat miraculorum ini- 
dolem. 

f Ecc. Pol. b. v. 7. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 



243 



tive matters, not as points of faith. Yet would 
one not suppose, from Dr. Milner's language, 
as well as yours, that the very reverse has been 
the case ? that the conduct of our Church on 
this particular has been all fire and fury, and 
that of yours all meekness and forbearance ? 
* Whereas, in truth, the most our Church says 
against Transubstantiation, (a very different 
thing from the adoration of the host,) is merely, 
that it " cannot be proved by holy writ, but 
" is repugnant to the plain words of scripture ; 
" overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and 
" hath given rise to many superstitions." # 

And now, will you or Dr. Milner, who has 
thus insinuated that the Church of Rome is 
so very gentle in its doctrine respecting Tran- 
substantiation, and ours so very violent, tell us 
what that Church really has said and done, on 
the same occasion ? I am afraid I must tell it 
for you, and must go to the Council of Trent 
for the purpose. In the first chapter, then, of 
its decree de Eucharistia, it speaks of the denial 
of this doctrine as an act of the " most flagitious 
" kind,"f and adds that " the church, the pil- 

* 28th article. 

f Sess. xiii. c. 1. Indignissimum sane flagitium est ea a 
quibusdam contentiosis et pravis hominibus ad fictitios et ima- 
ginarios tropos, quibus Veritas carnis et sanguinis Christi negatur, 

R 2 



244 



MISTAKES OF MR. SUTLER. 



" lar and ground of the truth, has detested as 
" satanical, these false opinions excogitated by 
" impious men." This, one would think, is 
going far enough : but the holy Fathers are not 
yet satisfied : they pronounce an anathema* on 
" all who hold that Christ is present in the 
" sacrament, as in a sign, or figure, or even (as 
" the Church of England holds) virtutc" that 
is, effectually and virtually. 

But, whatever be the moderation of our 
Church on this subject, the Law of the Land, 
you tell us, f requires a declaration upon Oath, 
that Transubstantiation is idolatrous. The law 
of the land does no such thing; and so you 
ought to have known, before you thought fit to 
publish and republish such an assertion. The 
law requires no more respecting Transubstan- 
tiation, than a simple denial of it upon Oath. 
Here then, all your idle talk, (I hope it deserves 
no harsher name,) about the Lutherans, and 
" all who maintain the doctrine of the real 
" presence, whether Protestants or Roman- 
" Catholics," being on our principle idolaters, 

contra universum Ecclesiae sensum detorqueri ; quae tanquani 
columna et flrmamentum veritatis haec ab impiis hominibus 
excogitata commenta, velut satanica, detestata est. 
* Can. I; 

f Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 323. 



MISTAKES OF MR. BUT LEU. 



245 



comes absolutely to nothing. " We may ask," 
you say, " whether, if idolatry be chargeable 
'* on transubstantiation, it be not chargeable, 
" with - equal justice, on consubstantialion and 
" impanation, one or other of which is maintained 
" in every Protestant ereedT 

When you address the public on grave sub- 
jects, and require that your voice should be 
heard in the deliberations of our statesmen, it 
is not too much to expect, that you should give 
yourself the trouble of understanding your own 
words. Were you dreaming when you wrote 
this sentence ? and has your dream been un- 
broken from the year 1821, when we first heard 
of it, to the present hour ? Do you know the 
meaning of the word impanation ? I hope not: 
for, if you do, my next question must be more 
distressing to you, than an imputation of igno- 
rance. Do you know a single Protestant Church 
which includes impanation in its creed ? Again, 
do you know what consubstantiation means ? 
If you do, do you know what your own words 
mean, when you say, that " either consubstan- 
44 tiation or impanation is maintained in every 
" Protestant creed ?" Is the Church of England 
a Protestant Church ? Is the creed of the re- 
formed in France a Protestant creed ? Are the 
followers of Calvin, the various Churches which 



246 



TEST ACT. 



they founded, and the creeds which they have 
set forth, are they, I ask, Protestant ? If they 
are, what becomes of your precious question ? 
Does any one of them maintain either Consubstan- 
tiation or Impanation? — And yet it is on such 
gossip as this, that the legislature is expected 
to repeal our laws, and the people are required 
to consider their creed as almost the same with 
your own. 

Dr. Milner is not so inconsiderate ; he pur- 
sues the more specious course of complaining 
of the injustice of our statesmen in " directing 
all the severity of the law"* against so innocent 
a dogma, as that of transubstantiation. The 
fallacy of this way of stating the case, though 
sometimes adopted by those who ought to know 
better, f has been so often refuted, as hardly to 

* End of Controversy, p. 268. 

t In the recent debate of the 21st April, that Right Hon. 
Gentleman, to whom I have before alluded, did not think it 
beneath him to stoop to this egregious trifling. — It is with regret 
I add, that the same eminent person fell into the snare, even 
while he abjured and ridiculed it, of talking, and (as on those 
occasions seems almost equivalent to talking) of blundering, on 
questions of Theology. Let him applaud the abilities and ho- 
nour of Dr. Doyle as he will. Did he seriously suppose, that he 
would have an adequate notion of the real state of the matters 
controverted between the Churches of England and of Rome, 
from the statement of this very adroit advocate, on one side, 



TEST ACT. 



247 



need to be again exposed. But let me briefly 
say, that the law does not exclude you and your 

with no one to sift it, no one to elicit the Truth, but the mem- 
bers of a Committee of the House of Commons ? The error, 
into which he was thus led on the subject of Confession and 
Absolution, we have already seen. 

To his remarks on the intolerant Spirit of our Church, as 
proved by its retaining the Athanasian Creed, I presume to 
answer, first, by referring to what is said on that Creed below — 
see App. p. 368 j secondly, by expressing my surprize, that such 
a mind as his could condescend to argue such a question in the 
tone of an advocate at Nisi Prius, instead of meeting the real 
practical difference, in that spirit, which is so eminently his 
own, the spirit of a Statesman. The only point worthy of his 
notice, the only thing really bearing on the great question 
before the House, was this : " Is there any thing so exclusive 
" and intolerant in the principles and sentiments of Roman - 
" Catholics, as to make them unfit to legislate for Protestants, 
" particularly in those matters, which are often the subject of 
" legislative deliberation, relative to Religion and to the Church, 
" and to the connection of the Church with the State, at pre- 
" sent admitted to be essential to the Constitution ?" 

In proof of the affirmative, it is not necessary to go to the 
decisions of Councils, that no man can be saved out of the pale 
of the Church of Rome, nor to any dogmatic decrees (which 
are however sufficiently abundant — for not a single article of 
faith is ever affirmed by that Church without excluding from 
salvation all who deny it) — but to these it is not necessary to 
have recourse. The Right Hon. Gent, had only to open the 
evidence of his friend Dr. Doyle, before the Committee of the 
House of Lords, p. 238, and he would find that Divine admit- 
ting, though with evident embarrassment, that " the doctrine 



248 



TEST ACT. 



brethren from any privileges, because you believe 
in transubstantiation, but because you belong 

i( of exclusive salvation in the Church of Rome is preached in 
" Ireland by the Parochial Clergy to their flocks." He might 
also have found, from the evidence of Mr. Burnett, p. 308, a 
friend of Catholic Emancipation," that " he had heard this 
" doctrine preached frequently" — and that " he thought the 
" general religious effect upon their minds, when they come to 
" the question, is, that their Protestant Neighbour is in a state of 
"perdition" The very Catechism (Butler's) recommended by 
the Roman-Catholic Metropolitan of Ireland as (c a general 
i( Catechism for the kingdom," teaches the same thing — " No 
" one can be saved out of the true Church," p. 16. that true 
Church, which is called " Roman, because its visible head is 
" Bishop of Rome, the Pope, Christ's Vicar upon earth." p. 17. 

Such is the feeling on this point among the Irish Roman- 
Catholics, infused into them from their earliest childhood, and 
strengthened by all the Spiritual instruction given to them 
through life. Now what is the feeling of Protestants on the 
same point ? Did the Right Hon. Gentleman, or any Gentleman, 
ever know similar, or any thing like similar, doctrine taught by 
the ministers of the Church of England ? Or is there a single 
member of either House of Parliament, who will rise in his place, 
and say, that the doctrine of exclusive salvation, in any sense, 
that bears on this political question, is believed by the members 
of our Church ? While such is the real practical difference 
between the two Churches, the only point deserving the atten- 
tion of the Legislature, is it worthy of a great Statesman to 
have recourse to a mere " windy Avar of words " on the greatest 
constitutional question, which has been argued within the walls 
of Parliament since the Revolution ? 

In truth, the Church of England, in separating from that of 



i 



TEST ACT. 



249 



to a Church whose principles are considered to 
be such as render it inexpedient to suffer its 

Rome, rejected all these dogmas of exclusive salvation, though it 
did not at the same time reject that ancient Creed, to which 
certain propositions are appended — (I say appended, for they 
are no part of the Creed itself) — which, however harsh they 
may sound, admit of being fairly understood in a true and 
charitable sense. 

Dr. Doyle indeed says, and says it on his Oath, (but here 
the Right Hon. Gentleman parts company with him,) that 
" he thinks the doctrine of exclusive salvation is found as 
" expressly stated in our 1 8th Article, as in any of the Creeds 
" of his Church." p. 238. Whether he has used the word 
Creeds in order to provide himself with a retreat, in case he 
should be pressed on tenets not expressed in Creeds, I do 
not enquire. But for the 18th Article I also refer to the Ap- 
pendix, p. 370. And I conclude what I have to say on my 
present subject with an appeal to experience. The real differ- 
ence of the Church of Rome and of our own, in respect to 
exclusive salvation, is clearly shewn in that which is, I believe, 
the most common, and, with Aveak minds, most successful 
argument for conversion to the former : — namely, " that such 
" a conversion is, at any rate, the safer course; for Protestants 
" themselves admit that Roman-Catholics may be saved, — 
(t whereas, the Church of Rome contends, that all must be 
" damned, who do not embrace its faith after it has been 
" sufficiently proposed to them." See Controversy between 
Knott and Chillingworth. 

After this, it is not pleasant to be obliged to remark, that 
Dr. Doyle has said on his Oath (ubi supra) that " he does not 
" suppose there is any difference between one Church and 
" another, in preaching the doctrine of exclusive salvation." — > 



250 



TEST ACT. 



members to sit in Parliament : and it prescribes 
the denial of transubstantiation only as a test, 
to ascertain whether those who are required to 
take it do indeed belong to that Church. It is 
" an act for the more effectual preserving the 
" King's person and government, by disabling 
" Papists from sitting in either House of Par- 
" liament." 

Whether such exclusion, or such a test, be 
indeed necessary, is no part of the subject I 
have undertaken to treat. But I may be al- 
lowed to say, that, as a test, nothing could be 
better chosen, than the denial of transubstan- 
tiation. It is a dogma so intimately interwoven 
in the system of your Church, that no man can 
pretend to belong to you, who has cast off' that 
most essential article of your peculiar creed. 
For this reason, — that is, because I think it 
apparent that a denial of transubstantiation is 
a sufficient test, — I sincerely lament that any 
other was ever chosen ; much more one marked 
by so much needless acrimony of invective, 
as the other parts of the declaration exhibit. 
That there were circumstances in the History 
of the time when that declaration was pre- 

On this I will only say, that I heartily wish him to have the 
benefit of any plea, which can be found in the nature of his 
examination, and of the points on which he was examined. 



TEST ACT. 



251 



scribed, which account for the harsh language 
in which it is drawn, does not diminish the re- 
gret which moderate men must feel and express, 
that its tone has not long ago been reduced to 
a point more accordant with Charity. Surely, 
the defenders of the continued necessity of a 
test would not have found their task more dif- 
ficult, if it had been no longer encumbered 
with any remnants of the violence and frenzy 
of an age, on which no Englishman can look 
back without shame. 

But wholly unnecessary to the purposes of 
a test, as the introduction of the other proposi- 
tions appear, their truth I deem to be of main 
importance to pure religion. This, however, 
is a point which I do not mean to argue here ; 
I shall confine myself to an examination of your 
and Dr. Milner's allegation of Protestant evi- 
dence to the contrary, as far, at least, as relates 
to the Idolatry charged to be practised in the 
Sacrifice of the Mass. 

The first witness called by Dr. Milner* is 
" the learned Gunning, Bishop of Ely." — Now 
he subscribed the Test,-\ and thereby proclaimed 
his belief that your Church is guilty. 

* End of Controversy, p. 256. 

t See Letter to Earl Grey, App. p. 365. 



252 



BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR CHARGES 



The next is " the candid Thorndyke, Pre- 
bendary of Westminster:" he in his " Just 
" Weights and Measures" gives evidence in 
your favour on this count, though he has pro- 
nounced you guilty of Idolatry on another.* 

The third is " the celebrated Dr. Jeremy 
Taylor, Bishop of Down," " than whom," as 
you truly say, " the whole Protestant Church 
" boasts no fairer name," " and who had fully 
" examined the points in question:" he, you 
continue to say, " declared, after his examina- 
" tion of them, that the doctrine of the Catholic 
" Church upon them is not idolatrous The fol- 
lowing is the citation made both by you and 
Dr. Milner. " The object (says this learned 
" and eloquent Prelate) of their adoration in 
" the Sacrament, is the only true and eternal 
" God, hypostatically united with his holy hu- 
' ' manity, which humanity they believe actually 
" present under the veil of the Sacrament: — 
" and if they thought him not present, they are 
" so far from worshipping the bread, that they 
" profess it Idolatry to do so. This is demon- 
" stration that the Soul has nothing in it that 
" is idololatrical ; the will has nothing in it, but 
" what is a great enemy to Idolatry." 



* See above, p. 53. 



THE CHURCH OF ROME WITH IDOLATRY. 253 

I shall beg leave to ask this witness a few 
questions. 

Q. Has your Lordship spoken advisedly the 
words here cited, and do you mean to abide 
by them? 

A. Most certainly; but in order that my 
meaning may be correctly understood, I think 
it right, that the occasion, on which they were 
spoken, and also the context, should be fully 
considered. They were introduced by me in 
" a Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying," 
the object of which is professedly " to shew 
<c the unreasonableness of prescribing to other 
" men's faith, and the iniquity of persecuting dif- 
" fering opinions." In the progress of my dis- 
course, I had to consider, (a question, which you 
in the 19th century will hardly believe could ever 
have been mooted,) whether Si the precept of 
" God to the Jews, that those Prophets who 
" persuaded to Idolatry should be slain/'* 
ought to be put in force against persons " of 
" the Romish religion." It is in resisting so 
monstrous a notion, that my words which have 
been cited occur. I there shew, " that the 
" object of their adoration, (that which is 
" represented to them in their minds, their 
ct thoughts, and purposes, and by which God 



* Liberty of Prophesying, sect. 20. subsect. 15. 



254 BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR CHARGES 

" principally, if not solely," (remember I do not 
say solely) " takes estimate of human actions,) 
" in the Sacrament is the only true God:" 
" and before they venture to pass an act of 
" adoration, they believe the bread to be anni- 
" hilated, or turned into his substance who 
<c may lawfully be worshipped; and they who 
" have these thoughts are as much enemies of 
" Idolatry, as they that understand better how 
" to avoid that inconvenience, which is sup- 
" posed to be the crime, which they formally 
i( hate, and we materially avoid." 

Q. What then? your Lordship recognizes 
the distinction between material and formal 
Idolatry? 

A. Rather between being materially and for- 
mally guilty of Idolatry; for in the very next 
sentence of my discourse I have spoken of the 
Romanist Teachers, only as " not formally guilty 
ie of Idolatry," manifestly implying that what 
they do and teach is Idolatry : for so it must be 
considered by us, if we are faithful to our own 
principles. 

Q. Has your Lordship in any other of your 
works, for which you have, I am happy to say, 
received the highest praises of the learned gen- 
tlemen on the other side, said any thing on this 
subject? 

A, I have. In a Treatise of mine, entitled 



THE CHURCH OF ROME WITH IDOLATRV. 255 

" The real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in 
" the blessed Sacrament, proved against the 
" doctrine of Transubstantiation," I have ex- 
pressly treated " of adoration of the Sacra- 
" ment;" and I there say that " since by the 
" decree of the Council of Trent,* they are 
bound to exhibit to the Sacrament the same 
" worship which they give to the true God, 
" either this Sacrament is Jesus Christ, or they 
" are very Idolaters ; I mean materially such, 
" even while, in their purposes, they decline 
" it." — " If, I say, they be deceived in their 
" own strict article, then it is certain they com- 
" mit an act of Idolatry in giving divine honour 
" to a mere creature." — " Add to this, that 
" supposing Christ to be present in their sense, 
" yet as they have ordered the business, they have 
" made it superstitious and idololatrical, for they 
" declare that the divinf worship does belong 
" also to the symbols of bread and wine, as 
" being ' one with Christ;' that even the spe- 
" cies also with Christ are to be adored. And 
tf<r it is not imaginable how they can pass divine 
" worship to those accidents, which are not in 
" the body, nor the same with the body, but 
" subsist of themselves, and yet not commit 



* Sess. xiii. c. 5. 



f Lib. 4. de Euch, c. 29. 



256 



BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOK 



" Idolatry." I have said much more to the 
same effect; but perhaps this may be sufficient. 

Q. It is indeed : but as your Lordship is now 
before us, I will avail myself of the opportunity 
to ask you one or two questions, on another 
particular connected with this subject, on which 
also your authority has been cited. The pre- 
sent Bishop of Norwich* in his arguments for 
the repeal of the existing statutes by which the 
Roman-Catholics (as we now call them) are 
excluded from having seats in the Legislature, 
and from certain offices, (he claiming such mat- 
ters for them, almost as strict rights, and con- 
demning all diminution of civil privileges, and 
any thing like restraint, on account of religion,) 
has said that " he has not used a single argument, 
46 nor hardly a single expression^ which is not to 
** be met with (among other eminent authori- 
*' ties) in your Book ^f the Liberty of Prophe- 
* ( sying." Permit me to ask, whether this is 
the case? 

A. You could not have surprized me more 
•than by putting this question. There are, I 
understand, many points in that Prelate's opi- 
nions as well as character, in which it would 
be an honour to any Christian to resemble him. 

* 

* See his Lordship's Speech, June J 8, 181 L 



\0T OPPOSED TO A TEST. 



257 



But I must disclaim all agreement with him in 
this particular, which you mention. It is very 
true, that I have denied the right of any state 
to hang or burn persons of the " Romish Reli- 
" gion," on the ground of their being, as they 
certainly are, materially (though not formally) 
guilty of Idolatry: it is also true that I have 
said* " in matters merely speculative, the body po- 
" litic which only may lawfully use the svjord, is 
"not a competent judge of such matters;" that 
" under this consideration come very many 
" articles of the Church of Rome, which are 
" wholly speculative, which do not derive upon 
" practice, which begin in the understanding 
" and rest there, and which therefore ought to 
" have no effect upon the persons of men, their 
" bodies, or their temporal condition. I in- 
" stance in two, prayer for the dead and tran- 
" substantiation." But I had before said, within 
two pages, that ' ' somef of their doctrines" are 
of a very different description, " are a direct 
" overthrow to all human society and mutual 
" commerce, a destruction of government and 
" of the laws — therefore those who hold and 

* Sect. 20. subsect. 8. 10. 20. 

t Such as that the Pope may dispense with all Oaths, may 
absolve subjects from their allegiance ; faith is not to be kept 
with heretics ; heretical princes may be slain by their subjects. 



258 



BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR. 



" preach them cannot pretend to the excuses 
" of innocent opinions. However if it might 
" happen that men should sincerely err in such 

plain matters of fact, (for there are fools 
" enough in the world,) yet if he hold his peace, 
" no man is to persecute or punish him" This, 
I suppose, is what the Bishop of Norwich means 
to say is the same with his notions, especially, 
as I understand, that those particular doctrines 
of the Church of Rome, which I have specially 
mentioned, are in your days disclaimed both in 
England and in Ireland : but remember, I have 
said nothing against civil disabilities applied to 
persons of that Communion (in my time they 
were treated more harshly); on the contrary, 
I have ' expressly recognized the right of the 
Legislature to impose them: for I have said as 
" the result of my account of what is to be done 
" in toleration of diversity of opinions: Let the 
" Prince and secular power have a care the com- 
" monwealth be safe. For tvhether such or such 
" a sect of Christians be to be permitted," (and of 
course how far to be permitted) ' ( is a question 
" rather political than religious" 

I thank your Lordship for speaking so plainly 
and so much to the purpose, on this point, as 
well as the other, and will not trouble you with 
any more questions. 



( 2m ) 



LETTER XIII. 

Archbishop Wake. — Mr. Butlers Charge on the Clergy 
of our Church. 

There remains one other witness cited by 
Dr. Milner, whose testimony and the circum- 
stances connected with it will require a more 
detailed consideration; I mean Archbishop 
Wake. His name has been more frequently 
brought forward by the advocates of your po- 
litical cause, and his opinions more grievously 
perverted, than those of any other writer. 
Sorry, sincerely sorry I am to say, that the 
first who introduced the authority of Wake, as 
favouring the pretensions of your Church, was 
a Prelate of the Church of England. The Bishop 
of Norwich, in the same Speech in which he 
cited Taylors " Liberty of Prophesying/' was 
pleased to cite also this most distinguished di= 
vine; and using terms as ample, as any of those 
who have succeeded him, claimed his sanction 
for the position, that " the religious tenets of 
" the (Roman) Catholics*' make a very near 

s 2 



260 



ARCHBISHOP WA K £■ . 



approach to our own. With how little shadow 
of justice this was done, will appear presently.* 
Meanwhile, it is painful and mortifying to 
behold an amiable and charitable man, thus 
betrayed by the blindness of his zeal into an act 
as truly contrary to charity, as any that can be 
named. Be it his punishment to know, that 
(however unwittingly) he has done all within 
his power to blast the fair fame of one, whom he 
himself esteems worthy of the highest honour; 
and to expose the memory of a good and great 
man to all the scoffs and insults, which such 
adversaries as Dr. Milner rejoice to heap upon 
it. The Bishop was followed, in due time, by 
Sir John Hippesleyt — then by Dr. Milner — and 
last of all by Earl Grey. To this distinguished 
Nobleman I ventured at the time to point out 
the real state of the facts of this case, being 
quite sure that he had been misled by others — 
little did I then think, who had been the prime 
misleader. 

But it is to Dr. Milner that my present ob- 
servations must be addressed. He has well 
merited the distinction, by the boldness with 
which he avails himself of the advantage so 

* See also Letter to Earl Grey — App. p. 342. 

f Speech in House of Commons, 24th of April, 1812. 



ARCHBISHOP WAKE. 



261 



unhappily given him. — The allegation of the 
Bishop of Norwich respecting Wake is greedily 
seized by Dr. Milner, and is made by him to 
serve the double purpose of strengthening his 
present argument, and of ministering to his ha- 
tred against one of the ablest and most trium- 
phant opponents of his Church. Accordingly, 
he adduces this great Prelate's supposed con- 
cession, as a proof that he in particular, as well 
as all his associates and successors in that holy 
cause, did not seriously believe the accusations 
which he urged: — that he and they " wanted 
" the rare grace of acknowledging their error 
" at the expense of temporal advantages," and 
" had no other defence for themselves, but mis- 
" representation and calumny." 

Now, Sir, let Dr. Milner first tell the world, 
whether he holds the doctrines ascribed to Du 
Pin in the Appendix to Mosheim's History,* 
which he quotes, and to which alone the Arch- 
bishop's concession applies : — if he does, let 
him also tell us, how he makes them accord 
with the doctrines of his Church. Will he, for 
instance, with Du Pin, assent to our 6th Article 
which affirms that " Scripture contains all things 
" necessary to Salvation, so that whatsoever is 



* Mosheim's History by Madame. App, 3. 



262 



ARCHBISHOP WAKE 



" not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, 
" is not to be required of any man, that it should 
" be believed as an article of Faith?" — will he, 
I say, assent to this on the sole condition " that 
" we do not entirely exclude tradition, which 
" doth not exhibit new articles of Faith, but 
" confirms and illustrates those which are con- 
" tained in the sacred writings, and places 
" about them new guards against gainsayers?" 
if he will, let him reconcile his new tenet with 
what he has himself elsewhere* said, " The Ca- 
" tholic Rule of Faith is not merely the written 
" word of God, but the whole word of God, both 
" written and unwyntten; in other words Scrip- 
" ture and Tradition, and these propounded and 
" explained by the Catholic Church. This 
'* implies that we have a twofold rule or law, and 
" an Interpreter, or Judge, to explain it." # 

Will he, like Du Pin, admit as to the impor- 
tant points of controversy in the 22d Article, 
that Purgatory means only that Souls must be 
purged, that is, purified from all defilement of 
sin, before they are admitted to everlasting bliss; 
— that Indulgences are only relaxations or re- 
missions of temporal penalties in this life?f — 

* End of Controversy, p. 79. 

\ The contrary is asserted in (t End of Controversy," p. 307. 



AND DU PIN. 



263 



will he abandon altogether the " worship of the 
" Cross, Relics, Images, nay even of Saints 
" before Images, and pay them only an exter- 
" nal respect, and that not of a ?xligious nature, 
" which may be laid aside or retained as a 
" matter of indifference?" and if he will do 
this, will he also undertake to prove, that this 
can be done without violating the laws of his 
Church? 

Will he reduce the doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation to a mere speculative* tenet, and aban- 
don not only the festival, and solemn processions 
in honour of the sacrament, but also the adora- 
tion of it? If he will, let him tell us, how this 
too is to be reconciled to the doctrine of his 
Church, especially to the Canon of the Council 
of Trent.t 

Will he, with Du Pin, fly in the face of the 
Councils of Constance^ and of Trent, § and 
admit no necessity of observing their decrees 

* Such seems the result of Du Pin's concession. See App. 
to Mosheim. 

f Sess. xiii. c. 6. 

% Sess. xiii. <( Haec consuetudo habenda est pro lege quam 
" non licet reprobare, aut sine Ecclesiae autoritate pro libito 
" rautare." Again, " Quod nullus presbyter sub pcend excom- 
" municationis communicet populum sub utraque specie panis 
i( et vim." Concil. Labbe, t. xii. p. 100. 

§ Sess. xxi. cap. 2. 



264 ARCHBISHOP WAKE AND DU PIN. 

respecting Communion in one kind ? Will he 
despise the Anathemas* of the latter Council, 
and communicate with those who deny that 
entire Christ is taken under one species only? 

Will he, following the same leader, admit not 
only " that in our liturgy there is nothing but 
" what he allows of, save the single rubric re- 
" lating to the Eucharist, (that it were idolatry 
" to adore the Sacramental Bread and Wine,) 
" but, also, that in yours there is nothing but 
" what he agrees may be Laid aside, and yet the 
" public offices be never the worse, or more impcr- 
" feet for want of it?" Will he thus strike out 
at once from your Breviary, your Missal, from 
every book of public worship belonging to you, 
those Prayers, and Hymns, and solemn Offices, 
to the Virgin Mary and the rest of your Saints, 
which form at present so large a portion ot 
your Devotion, and compels every true Protes- 
tant, with Wake, to revolt against the worship 
of your Church, as being, in those particulars, 
a compound of folly, blasphemy, and idolatry? 

Lastly, and above all, will he deny to the 
Pope, not only all temporal, but also all imme- 
diate spiritual jurisdiction, beyond the limits of 
his own See?f 



* Sess. xxi. c, 3. f App, to Mosheim, No, 8. 



BISHOP HOADLEY. 



265 



Will Dr. Milner, I ask, do all this ? If he 
will, then may he indeed claim a part in Arch- 
bishop Wake's admission in favour of Du Pin. 
But whether he do this, or not, it will still 
remain for him to show that his Church, as a 
Church, has given no ground for those accusa- 
tions which that great Divine has urged against 
her ; and be it remembered by him, that if he 
fail, the charges of falsehood, misrepresentation, 
and calumny, with which he has in vain la- 
boured to brand the illustrious name of Wake, 
will remain indelibly affixed to his own. 

But, Sir, I am sorry to say, that Dr. Milner 
is not the only person of whose unfair and un- 
founded attacks the Clergy of the Church of 
England have a right to complain. You your- 
self, in spite of your general urbanity, and, in 
spite, too, I am willing to believe, of the real 
kindliness of your nature, have condescended 
to make charges, which nothing but the most 
undoubted evidence could justify. On one of 
them you have already received the animadver- 
sions of a learned Bishop of our Church :* to 
that, therefore, it is unnecessary for me to 
allude further. But there remains another, 
which must not pass unnoticed. 

* Letter from Bishop of Chester to Charles Butler, Esq. 



266 UNFOUNDED CHARGE OF MR. BUTLER 

You say, Sir, that " the disciples of Hoadley 
" (and these unquestionably form a large proportion 
" of the Clergy of the Church of England) deny 
" even the existence of a Sacrament : all the disci- 
" pies of that distinguished Prelate think the 
" word ' Sacrament ' is a word without meaning."* 

That you believed this assertion, when you 
wrote it, I am very willing to suppose. But is 
it possible, that you can, on reflection, persist 
in believing it? and, if you cannot, what do 
you yourself now think of the charity, or de- 
cency, of thus charging " a large proportion of 
" the Clergy of the Church of England,"— I 
will not say with prevarication, but — with the 
direct and palpable violation of their most 
solemn engagements ? Whether Hoadley's no- 
tions on this subject be indeed chargeable with 
all the impiety you here ascribe to it; still 
more, whether it be fair to impute to him those 
consequences which he himself disclaimed, — 
the present is not a fit occasion to enquire. 
That he departed from sound doctrine, and 
violated the engagements he had repeatedly 
made to his Church, I have no hesitation to 
admit. It is possible that he may have some 
living followers among our Clergy : for what 



* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 319. 



AGAINST THE ENGLISH CLERGY. 267 

Church, or what body of men, has been able to 
make all its Ministers faithful to their trust ? It 
is also possible, that, if there be any such, they 
may be known to you. But for myself, I affirm 
most solemnly, that during the whole of a life, 
thirty-four years of which have been spent either 
in an University, or in immediate communica- 
tion with Clergymen of all orders and degrees, 
under circumstances, too, which have not pe- 
culiarly disqualified me from making observa- 
tions on the opinions of those with whom I live, 
I know not that I ever once met with a single 
Minister of the Church of England, of whom I 
had reason to believe, that he held the notion 
ascribed by you to " a large proportion " of our 
body. Have you had better opportunities of 
judging? and does experience enable you to 
pronounce an opposite verdict? That all of 
your acquaintance among the Clergy of our 
Church are not infected with this Heresy, I 
well know ; for you number among your friends 
some of the brightest ornaments of our Epis- 
copal Bench. To one of them, — the most 
venerable, and on many accounts, among the 
most distinguished, — you have lately paid* a 

* I may be permitted to gratify myself with quoting the fol- 
lowing passage from Mr. Butler's l< Reminiscences/' p. 97. — 
" Of the venerable Bishop of Durham, thus introduced, the Re- 



268 UNFOUNDED CHARGE OF MR. BUTLER 



public tribute of your respect, which entitles 
you to the gratitude of all who love and reve- 
rence that time-honoured name. 

Such an expression of your own generous 
feelings, when free from the trammels of secta- 

" miniscent begs leave to add, — that having been profession- 
" ally employed and confidentially consulted by his Lordship 
" during half a century, he has come to the knowledge of a 
" multitude of instances of his Lordship's exemplary charity 
" and well-regulated munificence 5 and that ,£100,000 would 
" not make up the amount of those, in the foundation or ar- 
" rangement of which, his Lordship has professionally employed 
" the Reminiscent: he is also aware that many of his Lord- 
" ship's other acts of liberality are unknown to him except by 
" general report." Let me follow this extract with the well- 
known passage of Burke, on which it is so felicitous a comment. 
" The people of England can see, without pain or grudging, 
" a Bishop of Durham, or a Bishop of Winchester, in possession 
" of ten thousand pounds a year ; and cannot conceive why it 
" is in worse hands, than estates to the like amount in the 
" hands of this Earl, or that Squire, although it may be true 
" that so many dogs and horses are not kept by the former, 
" and fed with the victuals which ought to nourish the children 
" of the people. It is true the whole Church revenue is not 
" always employed, and to every shilling, in charity ; nor per- 
" haps ought it ; but something is generally so employed. It 
" is better to cherish virtue and humanity, by leaving much to 
" free will, than to attempt to make men mere machines and 
" instruments of a political benevolence. The world, on the 
" whole, will gain by a liberty, without which virtue cannot 
" subsist." 



AGAINST THE ENGLISH CLERGY. 269 

rian prejudice, heightens the surprise with 
which I have read that unfortunate sentence 
which you suffered in an evil hour to fall from 
your pen. Leave, Sir, these calumnies to others 
— leave them to men, who do not feel them- 
selves disgraced by using them. Let Dr. Mil- 
ner, if he will, draw the picture of an imaginary 
divine of the Church of England, and assure 
the world, that he is, " like most of his learned 
" and dignified brethren, in these times, of that 
" free and, as it is called, liberal turn of mind, 
" as to explain away the mysteries, and a great 
" many of the articles'' of his Religion, which 
" were wont to be considered as essential to it."* 
Shall I recriminate ? Shall I contrast this base- 
less charge against the Clergy of the Church of 
England, with the proved and convicted insin- 
cerity of their accuser ? No ! Sir — I disdain so 
poor a triumph. I have cited this passage of 
your reverend Friend's, only to remind you, 
that you may safely leave the defamatory parts 
of your case in his hands : from you we have 
a right to look for justice, and for candour. 

The truth is, (and for testimony to it I appeal 
to all men of all sects and parties, who have 
any opportunity of observing,) that, whatever 



* End of Controversy, p. 22. 



270 



ENGLISH CLF.KGV. 



faults may be ascribed to the present Clergy of 
the Church of England, indifference to the 
tenets of that Church forms no part of their 
character. There is, on the contrary, an in- 
creased and increasing spirit of earnestness in 
investigating, and of zeal in preaching them : 
nor could an adversary, at any period since the 
Reformation, with less shadow of justice, than 
at present, have arraigned the Established 
Clergy for unfaithfulness to the articles of their 
religion. Nay, even in Hoadley's own time, so 
little were his notions countenanced by the 
Clergy, that the Lower House of Convocation 
passed a strong vote against him ; nor could 
any thing have shielded him from the further 
consequences of their indignation, had not the 
injustice or the "timidity of government pre- 
vented that body from ever deliberating again. 



( 271 ) 



LETTER XIV. 

The Power of the Pope. 

We are now come to that article of your 
Church's doctrine, in which, if we are to take 
the facts, as you, and Dr. Doyle, and other of 
your writers represent them, the triumph of 
reason and common sense over the most inve- 
terate and sacred prejudices has been most 
conspicuous. The monstrous claims of the 
Pope to a pre-eminence, not of rank merely, 
but of authority and jurisdiction over the 
greatest Princes of the earth, — his right to de- 
pose them for heresy and favouring heresy, — 
his consequent right to absolve subjects from 
their allegiance, — are now, it seems, disclaimed 
by all who live beyond the boundaries of Italy. 
There, indeed, they appear to be still clung to, 
with fond, however unavailing, regret : and the 
most that could be obtained in the rescript of 
the Pope, in 1793, was, a declaration that the 
See of Rome never taught that faith is not to be 
kept with the heterodox ; that an Oath to 
Kings separated from Catholic Communion can 



272 



ANSWERS OF UNIVERSITIES. 



be violated ; or that it is lawful for the Bishop 
of Rome to invade their temporal rights and 
dominions.* Accordingly, it is worthy of re- 
mark, that when the judgment of foreign 
Universities, on these and similar points, was 
sought at the instance of Mr. Pitt, no attempt 
seems to have been made to obtain from any 
Italian quarter the disclaimer required. But 
to the responses of the oracle at Alcala or 
Douay, or elsewhere, little regard can be due, 
till it is shewn, that a right to decide on 
articles of Faith was ever allowed to them by 
any legitimate or acknowledged authority. I 
should rather insist, that the very necessity of 
having recourse to such and so various quarters, 
instead of going at once to Rome, proves most 
satisfactorily, that from Rome you could not 
obtain what was thought and felt to be neces- 
sary : that this was, in short, on the very face 
of it, a mere counterpart of the expedient of 
Henry the Eighth, — adopted for the very same 
reasons and not entitled to so much respect ; 
for his authorities were more numerous, in a 
degree which I will not stop to calculate. Yet 
his right to act on the judgment of Universities 
is treated by your writers with scorn : why is 

* Speech of Sir J. C. Hippesley, p. 4. 



COUNCIL OF FLORENCE. 



273 



your appeal to a part only of the same authori- 
ties entitled to more respect ? 

From these unaccredited documents let us 
look to the authority to which you yoursel^ 
refer. It is contained in the Canon of the 
tenth Session of the Council of Florence, which, 
according to you, defined, that " full power 
" was delegated to the Bishop of Rome in the 
" person of St. Peter, to feed, regulate, and 
' ' govern the Universal Church, as expressed 
" in the general Councils and holy Canons.'' 
" This," you say, " is the Doctrine of the 
" Roman-Catholic Church on the Autho- 
" rity of the Pope, and beyond it no Roman - 
" Catholic is required to believe."* 

Now, here, Sir, I have once more ( and, I re- 
joice to say, for the last time) to remonstrate 
with you on the extreme laxity of the principle 
which regulates your conduct on these occa- 
sions. You know, as well as I can tell you, 
that this is very far from being a full or ade= 
quate representation of the Decree to which 
you refer; that much remains behind, which 
you felt it inconvenient to bring forward, and 
which you probably hoped, no adversary would 

* Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, p. 119. 



274 COUNCIL OF FLORENCE AND OTHERS 

take the trouble of adducing against you. The 
real decree of the Council is as follows : 

" Moreover, we define, that the holy Apos- 
" tolic See and the Roman Pontiff have a 
" primacy over the whole world, and that the 
66 Roman Pontiff himself is the successor of 
" St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and 
" true Vicar (or Representative, Toorol^fc) of 
" Christ, and that he is Head of the whole 
" Church, and the Father and Teacher of all 
" Christians ; and that to him in St. Peter was 
" delegated by our Lord Jesus Christ full 
" power to feed, rule (regere), and govern the 
" universal Church ; as also is contained in the 
" acts of general Councils and in the holy 
" Canons."* 

Is there no difference between these two 
statements ? Is it nothing, that the Church has 
declared the Pope to be the Representative of 
our Lord Jesus, and, as such, (not in the sense 
of dignity and honour merely,) is the Head of 
the whole Church, the very name which our 
Lord assumed for himself? Is it nothing that 
these high titles accompany and explain the 
commission alleged to be given to him, of 
feeding, ruling, and governing the Church with 



* Concil. Labbe, t. xiii. p. 516. 



ON THE POWER OF THE POPE. 275 



full power ? Is it fair dealing to suppress parti- 
culars such as these ? Does it accord with the 
dignity of your own honourable feelings, to 
expose yourself to be thus tracked and hunted 
through every citation you make, and to be 
indebted, at last, to the forbearance of an oppo- 
nent for not exhibiting all your obliquities in a 
harsher tone, than that of remonstrance ? 

But for a clearer view of the doctrine of your 
Church, I will look beyond the decree itself to 
the other authorities to which it refers us. Of 
general Councils, we find the Council of Con- 
stance pronouncing an Anathema against the 
denial of the Pope's being immediate Vicar of 
Christ and the Apostles. # 

The fourth, or great Laterane Council, de- 
clares " that the secular powers shall be ad- 
" monished, and, if necessary, be compelled by 
" ecclesiastical censures, to make oath that they 
" will, to the utmost of their power, strive to ex- 
" terminate from their territory all Heretics, de- 
" clared to be such by the Church, and further, 
" that if any temporal lord, being required and 
" admonished by the Church, shall neglect to 
" purge his territory from all taint of heresy, he 



* Sess. s. 
t2 



27ft 



POWER OF THE POPE 



" shall be excommunicated by the Metropoli- 
" tans and other provincial Bishops ; and if 
" he contemptuously omit to give satisfaction 
" within a year, it shall be signified to the Holy 
" Pontiff] in order that he may thenceforth pro- 
" claim his vassals absolved from fealty to him, and 
" may expose to Catholics his territory to be oc- 
" cupied by them, who, having exterminated the 
" Heretics, may possess the same without contradic- 
" Hon"* 

Thus did this " great Council," by far the 
most numerous that ever assembled, atchieve 
the proudest victory over the common feelings 
of humanity, after having already, by its de- 
cree in favour of transubstantiation, triumphed 
with no less glory over the senses and under- 
standing of mankind. 

It must not be omitted that the Roman 
Church is declared by this same Council to be, 
" by the dispensation of the Lord, the mother 
" and mist?*ess of all Churches,'" a title which 
must of course be interpreted by its context in 
the Acts of this Council. This same title is 
given to the Church of Rome by the Synod of 

* Con. Lab. t. xi. p. 147. We have already seen the reward 
given by this Council to those who assume the Cross for the 
extermination of Heretics. See above, p. 183. 



ACCORDING TO COUNCILS. 



277 



Trent repeatedly,* and also by the Creed of 
Pius IV. In the Catechism of Trent, carrying 
with it, as you will admit, the authority of that 
Council, it is said,-)* that " Christ placed a man 
" over his Church to be the vicegerent and the 
" administrator of his power, and commended 
" his sheep to Peter to be fed by him in the 
" amplest terms, in order that the Successor of 
" Peter might have completely the same power 
" of ruling and governing the whole Church.'' 

I will not look for more authorities from 
Councils, but will go to one or two of the 
" holy Canons," to which the Decree of the 
Council of Florence has directed us. In exe- 
cuting this part of my undertaking, I shall 
strictly confine myself to the Canons them- 
selves ; I will not have recourse to the Glosses 
on them, tempting as that store of impiety and 
extravagance must be confessed to be, and in 
spite of the example of Dr. Doyle, whom we 
have already seen seeking in a misapplied gloss 
of a Canon of Boniface VIII. a palliative for one 
of the distressing tenets of his Church. 

The first shall be taken from an Extrav. of 

* Sess. vii. can. 3. Sess. xvi. cap. 3. Sess. xxii. cap. 8. Sess. 
xxv. De del. cib. 

f Cat. Horn, pats 2, sitcc potestatis Vicariuni et Ministrum. 



278 



ro\VEK OF POPE 



(Dr. Doyle's authority) Boniface VIII., the lem- 
ma of which is as follows : " All the faithful 
" of Christ are of necessity of salvation under 
" the Roman Pontiff, who has both swords, and 
" judges all men, but is judged by none." 

" We are instructed by the Gospel that in 
" this power of his there are two swords, the 
" spiritual and the temporal."' " Certainly, he 
" who denies the temporal sword to be in the 
" power of the Pope, ill understands the word 
" of the Lord, * Put up thy sword into its 
" - sheath.' Both swords, therefore, the spiritual 
" and the material, are in the power of the Church* 
" — the one to be used for the Church, the other 
" by it — the one by the Priest, the other by 
" the hand of Kings and Soldiers, but at the 
4 ' nod and sufferance of the Priest. But one 
" sword ought to be under the other, and the 
" temporal authority to be subjected to the spi- 
" ritual," &c. " For, according to the word of 
" truth, the spiritual power has to appoint and 
" judge the earthly, if it be not good." — 
" Therefore, if the earthly power err, it shall 
" be judged by the spiritual power :" " Finally, 
" we declare, say, define, and pronounce, that 

* This is quoted and made a ground of argument by Bellar- 
mine, 4 * De Mem. Ecc. Mil, lib. iii. c. 22." 



BY THE HOLY CANONS. 



279 



" it is of necessity of salvation to every creature to 
" be subject to the Roman Pontiff"* 

My next shall be from an epistle of Innocent 
III. to the Eastern Emperor of his day, (inserted 
among the Canons, and cited by Bellarmine,)| 
" You ought to have known the prerogative of 
" the Priesthood from its being said by God, 
" not to a King but to a Priest, t not to one de- 
" scended from royal but from priestly paren- 
" tage, ' See ! I have set thee up over the 
" ' nations and over the kingdoms, to root up 
" ' and to pull down, and to destroy, and to 
" ' throw down; to build and to plant.' "J 

" Besides, you ought to know that God made 
" two lights in the firmament of Heaven, the 
" greater light to rule the day, and the lesser 
" light to rule the night — both great, but one 
" the greater. In the firmament of Heaven, 
" therefore, that is, of the universal Church, 
" God made two great lights — that is, insti- 
" tuted two dignities, which are the authority 
" of the Pope and the power of Kings. But 
fl that which rules over the days, that is, spi- 

* DeMaj. et Obed. Unam Sanctam. Ext. Com. 
| Bell, de Pont. Rom. 1. ii. c. 14. 

% Jer. i. 10. This was especially cited by Pius V. in his 
Bull against Elizabeth. It is also cited by Clement XIV. in 
his Bull, Dominus ac Hedemptor noster, dated 21st July, 1773. 



280 



POWER OE POPE 



" rituals, is the greater: and that which rules 
" over carnals, is the lesser. So that the differ- 
" ence between Pontiffs and Kings may be un- 
" derstood to be as great as between the Sun 
" and the Moon."* 

In order to estimate the full value of this 
authority,^ we must remember, that it came 
from that very Innocent III. who presided over 
the great Council of Laterane ; we may, there- 
fore, now the better understand in what sense, 
and to what extent, that Council pronounces 
the Roman Church to be " the Mother and 
" Mistress of all Churches." 

Need I add, that the same Innocent, in ano- 
ther Canon,J speaks of the Roman Pontiff as 
of not a mere man, but as of one who bears the 
part of the true God on earth ? 

I will only refer to one more Canon, the 
lemma of which is, " That the Pope alone 
" frees from a lawful oath." The case is that 
of Gelasius writing to the Emperor Anastasius, 
and threatening to depose him on account of 
his wickedness, after the example of Zachary, 
who deposed the King of the Franks, not so 

* Decret. Greg. 1. i. De Maj. et Obed. Solitae. 
f Bell, de Pont. Rom. 1. ii. c. 14. 

X De Translat. Episcopi — non puri hominis, sed veri Dei 
vicem gerit in terra. 



ACTUALLY EXERCISED. 



281 



much on account of his sins, as because he was 
useless. # 

For this assertion of the divine right of the 
Roman Pontiff was not a mere idle dictum. 
On the contrary, it occasionally assumed a port 
sufficiently energetic and formidable. This is 
not an occasion which demands an enumeration 
of every instance to be found in history. But, 
as Dr. Doyle tells the Committee of the House 
of Commons, that, " as far as he is acquainted 
" with the history of the claims of the Popes to 
" temporal interference, they rested them upon 
" some temporal right previously acquired by them- 
" selves or their predecessors,^ with the single 
" exception of Boniface VIII.," I may be per- 
mitted to ask, what temporal right had been 
acquired by Gregory III. over the Eastern 
Empire, entitling him to forbid taxes to be paid 
to Leo the Iconoclast, who had been excommu- 
nicated by him ?J Again, who had given Za- 
chary, or any of his predecessors, any temporal 
right over the kingdom of France, by virtue of 
which he actually deposed Childeric, (as we 
have just seen,) on account of his being indo- 



* Dis. xv. q. 6. c. alius. 

t Second Report on State of Ireland, p. 191. 

t See Bell. De Rom. Pont. lib. v. c, 8. 



282 



POWER OF THE POPE. 



lent and useless, and substituted Pepin in his 
place ? 

Dr. Doyle seems to have taken this notion in 
part from the claims of the Popes over the 
Western Empire, by virtue of which they de- 
posed several who sate on the Imperial Throne. 
But this very claim was acquired by an act of 
mere Papal power. For Leo III. transferred 
the empire from the Greeks to the Germans, 
because the Greeks could not support the fall- 
ing Western Church : from this epoch is dated 
the claims of the Popes to confirm the election 
of the Emperors, and to receive the oath of 
fidelity from him, " And with very good rea- 
" son," says Bellarmine, "for he who had it in 
" his power to confer the empire, had it also in 
" his power to impose conditions, lest there 
" should be a schismatic or heretic Emperor."* 

It will hardly be necessary to multiply in- 
stances, or to refer to facts which are notorious 
in the history of our own country, and which 
are likely to be more particularly discussed 
between you and Mr. Southey. I will rather 
enquire, what has been the construction put on 
the decrees of Councils, and the holy Canons, 
to which we are referred by your own authority, 



* Ibid. 



BELLA liMI N E S D0CTK1NE. 



283 



the decree of the Council of Florence — what, in 
short, is the statement of the doctrine of your 
Church on this important point, given by your 
" great controvertist/'Bellarmine. By choosing 
him for our guide, we are pretty sure of not 
been taken too far : for his notions, as I have 
already said, were disrelished at Rome, because 
he did not carry the Papal prerogative far 
enough. 

Of the spiritual power communicated to the 
Pope in Saint Peter, particularly of his infalli- 
bility, or, to use the modern phrase, his iner- 
rancy, Bellarmine's doctrine amounts to this ; 
" that the Pope cannot err, when teaching the 
M whole Church in a matter of faith, or deliver- 
" ing precepts of morals, which are prescribed 
" to the whole Church, and which relate to 
" matters necessary to Salvation, or good or 
" evil in themselves. He is the judge of con- 
" troversies, and his judgment is certain and 
" infallible. Hence, it is a point universally 
'■' admitted in the Catholic Church, that, as 
" Bishops in their own Dioceses, so the Pope, 
" throughout the whole Church, can make 
" laws, which bind the Conscience."* 

This doctrine of Bellarmine does not quite 



* Bell. De Rom. Pont. L iv. c. 3. 5. 15. 



284 



BEELARMINE S DOCTRINE 



accord with that which is taught at Maynooth, 
where it is held to be " not heretical or schis- 
" matical," to deny the inerrancy of the Pope, 
even when he speaks ex cathedra. But he is 
admitted to be the centre of Catholic Communion, 
so that, all, who do not hold communion with 
him, are cut off from the Catholic Church: it 
is also admitted, that he has the right of 
making decrees of Faith, and of general disci- 
pline ; that all greater matters of both ought to 
be referred to him ; # and that a dogmatic defi- 
nition of his directed to all the Churches, and 
sufficiently promulged, is really approved by 
the Bishops by the very fact of their not re- 
claiming against it and becomes an irreversible 
judgment of the Church. 

Concerning the Pope's temporal power, Bel- 
larmine tells us, " there are three opinions; first, 
" that the Pope, by divine right, has an unlimited 
" power(plenissimampotestatem)over the whole 
" world in political as well as ecclesiastical rriat- 
" ters : — (from this opinion he simply dissents, 
" without blaming it ; and this dissent of his was 
" the principal cause of his disgrace at Rome:) 
" — a second opinion (which, he calls, a heresy, 
" rather than an opinion,) is in the opposite ex- 

* Tractat. De Ecclesia,- 3 63. 368. 372. 3/6. 152. 



OF THE POPE'S POWER. 



285 



treme, that the Pope has not, by divine right, 
" any temporal power, nor can in any way 
" command secular Princes, much less depose 
" them, even though they may deserve to be 
" otherwise deposed: — nay, that it is contrary 
" to the law of God that the spiritual and 
" temporal swords be both committed to the 
" same hand." " The third opinion lies be- 
" tween the two former, and is commonly 
" held by Catholic divines ; namely, that the 
" Pope, as Pope, has not directly and immedi- 
" ately any temporal, but only a spiritual 
" power; nevertheless, that by reason of the 
" spiritual, he has, at least indirectly, a certain 
"power, and that supreme, in temporals." This 
is the opinion of Bellarmine himself, who says, 
in conformity to it, that, " the power of the 
" Pope is indeed properly in itself, and directly, 
" spiritual ; but that by it he can dispose of the 
" temporal things of all Christians, when that 
" is required for the end of the spiritual power, 
" to which the ends of all temporal powers are 
" subordinate:" for though " he has no merely 
" temporal power, yet he has in ordine ad 
" bonum spirituale the highest power over 
" temporals." This he illustrated by the fol- 
lowing similitude, adopted by many great 
writers: — 



286 



BELLA RMIXES D0CTRIXE 



" Those two powers in the Church are like 
" the spirit and the flesh in the natural man: for 
" spirit and flesh are, as it were, two bodies po- 
" litic, which may be found both separate and 
" conjoined. The flesh has sense and appetite, 
" to which there are correspondent acts and 
" objects proportioned, and the end of all these 
" is the health and good constitution of the 
" body. The spirit has intellect and will, pro- 
" portioned acts and objects, and for its end 
" the sanctity and perfection of the soul. The 
(i flesh is without the spirit in brutes, the spirit 
" without the flesh in angels, and the two are 
" united in man. The flesh is the inferior, the 
" spirit the superior ; and though the spirit 
" does not mix itself in the acts of the flesh, 
" but permits it, as in brutes, to exert its own 
" acts, nevertheless, when these are opposed to 
" the end of the spirit itself, the spirit commands 
" the flesh, and chastises it, and imposes afflic- 
" tions on it, even with some damage to the 
" body itself, and compels the tongue not to 
" speak, the eyes not to see, &c. So also, if 
" any operation of the flesh, or even death 
" itself, be requisite to obtain the end of the 
" spirit, the spirit can command the flesh to 
" expose itself and all that belongs to it, as we 
" see in the case of martyrs." 



OF THE POPE'S POWER, 



28? 



" Now exactly after this manner (ita prorsus) 
" the political power has its Prince, laws, judi- 
" catures, &c. and the ecclesiastical its Bishops, 
" canons, judicatures, &c. The one has tem- 
" poral peace, the other eternal peace, for its 
" end. Sometimes they are separate, (as in 
" the days of the apostles,) sometimes they are 
" united, as at present. When united, they 
" make one body, and therefore ought to be 
" connected ; the inferior being subjected and 
" subordinate to the superior. Therefore the 
" spiritual power does not mix itself in tem- 
<f poral concerns, but suffers all things to pro- 
" ceed, as before the union, so long as they do 
" not oppose the spiritual end, or be not neces- 
" sary to obtain it. But if any thing of this 
" sort occurs, the spiritual can, and ought to 
" coerce the temporal by any way and means 
" which shall seem necessary for its purpose." 

He next applies this both to secular persons 
and to secular things. " The Pope, as Pope, 
" cannot ordinarily depose temporal Princes, 
<f even for a just cause, in the manner in which 
" he deposes Bishops, that is, as their ordinary 
" Judge: he may, however, change kingdoms, 
" take away from one and give to another, as 

supreme spiritual chief, if it be necessary for 
" the salvation of souls.'' 



288 



pope's power in temporals. 



" As to laws, the Pope, as Pope, cannot 
" ordinarily make a civil law, or confirm or 
(t abrogate the laws of princes, because he is 
" not himself political Prince of the Church : 
" nevertheless he may do all these things, if 
" any civil law be necessary to the salvation 
" of souls, and kings will not enact it, or if any 
" other be hurtful to souls, and yet kings will 
" not abrogate it." 

" Therefore the best general rule is, that when 
" on the same point the laws of the state and those 
" of 'the Pope are found to be contrary, if the mat- 
" ter of the law concern the danger of souls, the 
" law of the state is abrogated by that of the Pope : 
" But when the matter of the law is a temporal 
" thing, not concerning the danger of souls, the law 
" of the Pope cannot ablegate the law of the state; 
" but both are to be kept, the one in foro ecclesias- 
" tico, the other in foro civili ". 

He next proceeds to establish his doctrine 
by reasons. I shall content myself with quoting 
two; first, that " it is not lawful for Christians 
" to tolerate an infidel or heretical king, if he 
" endeavour to pervert his subjects to heresy 
" or infidelity; but the decision of the question 
" whether a king is perverting to heresy or ?iot, 
(i belongs to the Pope, to whom is entrusted the care 
" of religion: — therefore it is the Pope's part to 



pope's power in temporals. 289 



" decide, whether the king ought to be deposed or 
" not." The second reason is, " when kings 
" and princes come to the Church, to be made 
" Christians, they are received with an express 
" or tacit compact, that they submit their scep- 
<c tres to Christ, and that they promise to keep 
" the faith of Christ, even under the penalty of 
" losing their kingdom : therefore when they 
" become heretics, or oppose religion, they may 
" be judged by the Church, and even deposed/ 1 

Before I conclude this statement of the doc- 
trine of Bellarmine, it is proper to say, that in 
his " Recognitio Librorum," his corrections of 
this work are all in the way of making them 
more favourable to the Pope ; and he says that 
he is become more cautious, because great dis- 
cussions on these matters had taken place since 
he wrote it. One of his corrections I subjoin. 
" He does not now approve what he had said 
" on the subject of not deposing infidel princes, 
" unless they strive to turn their people from 
" the faith : that he now holds that such princes 
" may be deposed, even if they do not make 
" such attempts. And yet," he adds, "the 
" Church does not always exercise this right, 
" either because it has not sufficient strength, or 
" does not think it expedient." 

Such, Sir, is the conclusion drawn from the 
u 



290 church's power over heretics. 



premises which you yourself are obliged to 

acknowledge, by the ablest and acutest reasoner 

vour Church has boasted in modern times. Less 
t/ 

than his doctrine cannot, I think, be drawn from 
the same premises by any just process of argu- 
ment ; though I am aware that much less is, in 
fact, laid down in the Class-book of Maynootlu 
But whether BeHarmine, or Delahogue, be the 
better reasoner, I leave to any sufficient and 
impartial judge to decide. 

There remain one or two other points con- 
nected with the power of the Pope and of the 
See of Rome, which must not be omitted, 
(though I shall not treat them at large) particu- 
larly respecting heretics. 

Of the right of any Church to cut off from 
its communion all whom it considers heretical, 
no question can be moved. Therefore if excom- 
munication were all the penalty which the 
Church of Rome had claimed a right to inflict, 
there could be no fair ground of complaint 
against her ; even though the civil power, acting 
on the judgment of the Church, should, of its 
own motion, inflict on those whom the Church 
had excommunicated, any measure of punish- 
ment whatever. But this you will hardly 
deny, is very far indeed from being the case. 
We have already seen, in part, what has been 



BURNING OF HERETICS. 



291 



decreed against heretics by the Great Lateran 
Council ; but it is necessary that I should here 
add, that we have not seen all ; that the same 
Council decrees that " those whom the Church 
" condemns as heretics are to be delivered over 
" to the secular power, to be punished in the 
<c manner that is due." What that manner is, 
I need hardly remind my readers. It was 
death — death in its most appalling form, death 
by burning. This accursed sentence was the 
invention of the Church of Rome ; its Canons 
recognize it, those Canons to which Councils 
refer, and the creed of Pius IV. has recog- 
nized ; — " I also profess and without any hesita- 
f tation* receive all other things delivered, de- 
" fined, and declared by the Holy Canons, and 
" general Councils," &c. So indisputable is 
this, that the first statute in our own country 
for the burning of heretics expressly states, that 
this is to be done on all, who are left, according 
to the Holy Canons, to the secular Court ; and 
sheriffs, &c. are ordered to attend in person and 
execute it, " when required thereto by the said 
" Diocesan or his commissaries ,"*f~ — Nay " even 
" those who are under suspicion only, if they 
" cannot clear themselves, are to be struck 

* Indubitanter — Mr. Butler translates it undoubtedly. 
f 2 II. 4. c. 15. 

Li 2 



292 



PUNTSHMENT OF HERETICS. 



" with the sword of anathema;" and are to be 
avoided by all, till they have given satisfaction ; 
but if they continue excommunicated for a year, 
they are to be condemned as heretics. Those 
" who receive, defend, or favour heretics, are 
"to be excommunicated, and if they do not 
" give satisfaction within a year, they become 
6 ( ipso jure infamous, inadmissible to any public 
" offices, or councils, not allowed to vote at any 
" elections, nor to give evidence, nor to make a will, 
(( nor take an inheritance!" There are other 
disabilities added, which I will not take the 
trouble of transcribing. 

Now this, be it remembered, is the decree of 
the great Lateran Council, one of pre-eminent 
authority, cited as such with particular honour 
by the Council of Trent. It is the voice, there- 
fore, if any thing can be, of your Church itself. 

From this great Council, I will jump at once 
to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, in 
order that my readers may see that the spirit 
of your Church (whatever happens to individu- 
als) remains, and must ever remain, while that 
Church itself remains, unchanged and unchange- 
able. The Catechism tells us, that " Heretics 
" and Schismatics do not belong to the Church, 
" any more than vagabonds or renegadoes be- 
" long to an army from which they ran away. 



IS AN OATH TO HERETICS NOT BINDING ? 293 

" Yet it is not to be de?iied, but that they are in the 
" power of the Church, as those who may be judged 
" by her, and condemned with an anathema."* 
I hardly need remind you, that this Catechism 
is an authority to which not only you, but Dr. 
Doyle, and every one else among you, con- 
stantly refer. 

I argue not on these matters ; I leave them 
to others to make them the grounds of argu- 
ment : my humble province is merely to point 
them out. 

But here a point arises, on which I must, I 
fear, argue a little, though it shall be a very 
little. ' - That an oath made to heretics is not 
" binding," under certain circumstances, is a 
position which has been sometimes laid to the 
charge of your Church. Dr. Doyle, indeed, in 
his evidence before the Committee of the House 
of Lords, treats the very suggestion of it as 
hardly fit to be noticed, and quite unworthy of 
denial: it is " too blasphemous to be contem- 
" plated. "t 

Now, Sir, however Dr. Doyle may think fit 
to regard such a notion, it is quite capable of 
proof that it has been maintained by eminent 

* I quote from the Irish edition, Dublin, 1S16, " faithfully 
<( translated into English by permission." — p. 70. 
t P. 387. 



2Q4 COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE S TREATMENT 

writers of your Church. Not only so, but there 
is some evidence — whether sufficient or not, — • 
(I do not think it sufficient) — but there is some 
evidence, that your Church itself has inculcated 
this maxim, if not in direct terms, at least by its 
actions. I will state this evidence briefly, but I 
trust fairly. " John Hus, a Bohemian reformer, 
" went to the Council of Constance, under a 
" safe-conduct granted to him by his sovereign, 
" the Emperor Sigismund, within whose domi- 
6 ' nions the Council was held . Having been con- 
" victed of heresy, he was delivered over to the 
" civil power; and the same Emperor Sigismund, 
" in spite of his own urgent suit to the contrary, 
" was required and persuaded to punish him 
" with death." The Council, in its solemn and 
authentic decree,* declared that " from no safe- 
" conduct, granted by the Emperor, Kings, and 
" other Princes, to heretics, or persons suspected 
" of heresy thinking by these means to reclaim 
" them from their errors, by whatever obligation 
" they may have bound themselves, can any preju- 
" dice be raised against the Catholic Faith or 
" Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, nor any impedi- 
" ment accrue to prevent a competent and 
" ecclesiastical Judge from enquiring into the 



Sess. xix. 



OF JOHN MLS. 



295 



44 errors of the said persons, and to proceed 
44 against them in due form, and to punish them 
44 to the full extent of justice, even though they 
4 ' come to the place in reliance on the safe-con- 
** duct, and otherwise would not have come; 
" and it further declares, that he who granted 
*' the safe-conduct, after having done what lay 
" in him, is free from all obligation in permitting 
44 this course to be followed. 1 ' 

In a former part of the proceedings of this 
same session we find what follows : — "Whereas 
" some persons, of evil intention, or wishing to 
64 be wise above that which is permitted, are 
44 speaking injurious things, not merely against 
: s the Royal Majesty, but even, as is reported, 
<4 against the Sacred Council, affirming or insinu- 
4< ating, publicly and privately, that the safe- 
44 conduct formerly granted by the invincible 
" Prince, the Emperor Sigismund, to John Hus, 
44 of damned memory, was unduly violated con- 
44 trary to justice and honesty, although the 
64 said John Has, by pertinaciously resisting 
" the Catholic Faith, had deprived himself of 
" all right to any benefit of safe-conduct or 
" privilege, and no faith given to him, by the 
4< law of nature, of God, or of man, was to be 
44 observed to him in prejudice of the Catholic 
44 Faith;— therefore the Holy Synod, by the 



296 



JOHN HUS. 



" tenor of these presents, declares that the said 
" invincible Prince, in the matter of the said 
" late John Hus, notwithstanding the aforesaid 
" safe-conduct, was* bound by right to do what 
" he did, and in so doing did what was lawful, 
" and what became the Royal Majesty." 

Now, Sir, I entirely assent to the decision of 
the Council, and I ground my assent on those 
principles of your Church, which we have 
already seen. The cognisance of heresy was in 
the ecclesiastical power, which is the superior; 
and the Emperor, (though Hus ? s sovereign 
Prince,) as a faithful Son of the Church, had 
no right to grant a safe-conduct to him, nor 
could his unlawful presumption in thus doing 
what he was not authorized, though a Sovereign, 
to do, interfere with the higher power of the 
Church, nor even make it lawful for him to 
refuse to discharge his duty in executing the 
commands of the Council, and letting the law 
take its course, by burning the heretic, Hus. 
As for the oath, it was plainly an unlawful oath, 
or lawful only so far as it implied no violation 
of what was his bounden duty before he took 
it: — the sin, in short, would have been in keep- 
ing it, so far as it was contrary to a previous 
obligation. 

* Ex juris debito fecisse quod licuit, &c. 



DILEMMA PROPOS ED. 



297 



All this is, I think, quite plain ; but it is so 
only on the supposition that the case between 
the ecclesiastical and temporal powers be what 
has been stated. On any other supposition it 
is impossible to acquit the general Council of 
Constance, and of course the Church of Rome, 
of maintaining in its solemn decree, that an 
oath is not to be kept with heretics when it 
interferes, I will not say with the rights, (for the 
right, on the present supposition, is excluded,) 
but with the convenience or wishes of the 
Church. Choose, Sir, which part of the alter- 
native you please ; but do not suppose that 
you shall be suffered to escape with all the non- 
chalance you once exhibited on this subject. 
" What does it signify? If the Council of Con- 
" stance authorised the violation of the safe-conduct, 
" it did infamously, and there's an end orit "* 

Before I quit this matter, I wish to give the 
Council the full benefit of their own prudence, 
as displayed in the case of Jerome of Prague. 
He came under a safe-conduct granted by the 
Council itself ; was tried, condemned as a 
heretic, handed over to the civil power, and 

* Address to the Protestants of Great Britain and Ireland, — 
p. 11. Mr. Butler, on that occasion, affected to doubt the facts 
of the case. To prevent all quibbles of this kind, I refer him 
to the authorities cited in the Supplemental Letter, 



298 



JEROME OF PRAGUE. 



burned. But in this safe-conduct there was 
an express saving of the point of justice — salva 
justitia was inserted : of course, therefore, 
Jerome had nothing to complain of — he came 
at his peril. 

There is a third case on record, but as I have 
not time to find any other than heretical autho- 
rity, I claim no attention for it from any one 
who declines believing it. It is the case of 
Paul V., who is said to have adopted a more in- 
genious and hardly less satisfactory course, than 
the Council of Constance followed in Jerome's 
instance. Father Fulgentio, the friend of the 
illustrious Paul Sarpi, was prevailed with to 
come to Rome under a safe-conduct granted 
by the Pope. When there, he was treated as 
a heretic, and on appealing to his safe-con- 
duct, was answered, that " the conduct was safe 
"for his coming thither, but not for his going 
" thence." After this, who will deny the strict 
fidelity of the Church of Rome to all its en- 
gagements with heretics? Among these en- 
gagements, it has always reckoned as the most 
sacred, that of labouring for the spiritual good 
of its rebellious children, " the deserters from 
" its camp," as the Catechism of Trent calls 
them, by a little gentle corporal correction. 

But these are matters quite gone by: — " last 



POPE S DEPOSING POWER 



299 



" year's Almanac," I think they were called in 
our enlightened House of Commons. Dr. Doyle, 
the modern oracle not of Roman-Catholics 
only, but of a very large number of British 
senators, and of at least one great British 
statesman, has pronounced, that the deposing 
power, in particular, is " perfectly obsolete," 
" completely extinct."* I really do not wish 
to dwell on verbal criticism ; but I must suggest 
that these expressions admit that the power 
(which evidently is here put for a claim of right) 
did once exist : at any rate, though Dr. Doyle 
and his brethrenin Ireland do not teach it, he will 
admit that it has been in former times generally 
taught by your divines, and acted upon, enforced, 
but never disclaimed at Rome. No longer ago 
than the year 1789 a Protestation against the doc- 
trine of the Pope's infallibility, in matters of faith — 
and against the following tenets — that Princes 
excommunicated by the Pope may be deposed by 
their subjects — that the Pope can absolve subjects 
from their oaths of allegiance — and that the Pope 
hath a civil jurisdiction within the realms of other 
Princes — having been signed by almost every 
Roman-Catholic of consideration in England, 
(it has your very respectable signature among 



* Report ol Lords' Committee, p. 386. 



300 



PROTESTATION OF ENGLISH 



the rest,) was condemned by some of the Apostolic 
Vicars, and the signatures of the greater number 
in consequence withdrawn. An interesting cor- 
respondence took place on this occasion be- 
tween the Committee of the Roman-Catholics 
and the Apostolic Vicars, from one letter of 
which, addressed to John, Bishop of Centuria, 
Vicar Apostolic of the Southern See in Eng- 
land, and signed 

Chas. Berington, Stourton, 

JOS. WlLKS, PETRE, 

Henry Ch. Engleeield, 
John Throckmorton, 
John Townley, 
Thomas Horngold, 

I beg leave to make the following extract : — 

" Here, my Lord, let us pause. The Pro- 
" testation was sanctioned by all the Apostolic 
" Vicars; the Oath was the work of Govern- 
" ment." " In the following October the 
" Vicars Apostolic published the first encyclical 
" letter. Without assigning one reason, with- 
" out even pointing out one exceptionable pas- 
" sage, the Oath was, by that letter, declared to be 
" unlawful, and our submission to the mandate 
" was required. Thus this Oath, which, upon 
" the requisition of Government, and with the 
" most explicit sanction of our Bishop, we had 



ROMAN -CATHOLICS IN 1789. 



301 



" signified to be admissible, an Oath which in its 
<s effects and tendency is a mere profession of tem- 
" poral allegiance, and repetition of that Pro- 
" testation, which all the Vicars, with their coad- 
" jutors and clergy, had signed hut a few months 
" before ; that very Oath, my Lord, ivas pronounced 
" altogether unlawful; and the Vicar Apostolic of 
c< the Western District, by his printed letter of 
" the 24th of December, 1789, accuses us of an 
" attempt to injure religion; and the Vicar Apos- 
" tolic of the Not hern District, in his pastoral 
" letter, talked of our infernal stratagems ."* 

Now, Sir, I do not say that all these matters 
do not admit of explanation; they may, for 
aught I know, be accounted for in the most 
satisfactory manner. But I do say, that they 
are not to be got rid of in the very free and easy 
style which you and Dr. Doyle think proper to 
adopt. 

Neither is this all, which to plain under- 
standings seems a little at variance with the 
Doctors representation. In the year 1800, the 
late Pope Pius VII. addressed his late most 
Christian Majesty, the eldest son of the Church, 
Louis XVIII., as lawful King of France, and 
successor of St. Louis, and made to him, as 

* I quote from " Declaration and Protestation of the Roman- 
Catholics of England," &c. London. Printed for Stockdale. 
1812. Page 95. 



302 THE LATE POPE AND FRENCH BISHOPS. 



such, the usual communication of the intelli- 
gence of his election to the Popedom. In the 
following year, on April 10th, 1801, the same 
Pope entered into a Concordat with Buona- 
parte, which instrument, besides suppressing 
146 episcopal and metropolitan sees, and dis- 
missing their bishops and metropolitans with- 
out any form of judicature, absolves all French- 
men from their oaths of allegiance to their 
legitimate sovereign Louis XVIII., and autho- 
rizes an oath of allegiance to the First Consul. 
The Pope's words are, " Consensimus, ut epis- 
" copi, antequam episcopale munus suscipiant, 
" coram Primo Consule juramentum fidelitatis 
" emittant," " consensimus ut parochi," &c. 

In reference to this affair, a book was printed 
in London in the year 1807, with the name of a 
most respectable gentleman of your Church in 
the title-page, from which you will permit me 
to present my readers with the following most 
instructive passage: — " The ecclesiastical divi- 
" sion of France by the Pope and Buonaparte 
" has not been acquiesced in by some of the 
" Gallican Prelates: they appear much perplexed 
" between allegiance to the Bourbons, and duty to 
" the Pope. They invoke the Canons," and 
" their appeal to the Canons must be decided 
" in their favour, if the case should be tried by 



DOMINIUM ALTUM. 



303 



" the ordinary rules of the ecclesiastical polity 
ff of the Roman-Catholic Church. But, at the 
" time we speak of, no sentence, founded on 
" those rules, could be carried into execution. 
" Such was the extraordinary state of things, 
" that nothing short of the Dominium Altum, 
" or the right of providing for extraordinary cases 
66 by extraordinary acts of authority, could be ex- 
" erted with effect: and that Dominium Altum 
" the venerable prelates cannot, consistently with 
" their own principles, deny to the successors of St. 
" Peter' I 

I have called this a most instructive passage, 
and some of my readers will probably agree 
with me in so considering it. It tells us of a 
new security for our existing institutions in 
Church and State, (as far as the Pope can en- 
danger them,) if the proposed bills should pass- 
it is this, that no harm shall be done to thenv 
no exertion of the Dominium Altum, if — no 
extraordinary case shall arise, which may require 
to be provided for by an extraordinary act of au- 
thority. 

Having thus stated the obligation w r e owe to 
this writer, I will no longer withhold his name 
from the grateful commemoration of my fellow 
Protestants. It is " Charles Butler, of Lin- 



304 



GALLIC AN DECLARATION. 



coln's Inn, Esquire/'* who, with becoming- 
modesty, wishes at present to be chiefly known 
as author of the Book of the Roman-Catholic 
Church — a book, at which I am now going to 
take (I rejoice to say) one parting glance. 

In the last page of the chapter to which I 
have chiefly addressed myself, I meet with the 
following passage " on Papal Authority":']" — 
" Permit me to request you will say if you con- 
" scientiously believe, that there is now a single 
" Catholic who can justly be charged with the 
" monstrous and blasphemous doctrines, with 
" which you attempt in this part of your work 
" to brand us. Think of the Gallican Declara- 
" tion of 1682, which) so far as respects the in- 
" dependence of the secular on the spiritual 
" power, in temporal concerns, is recognized by 
" the whole Roman-Catholic world" 

You have made very honourable mention 
of the Rev. C. Plowden, President, I believe, 
of the College at Stoney hurst, and Provin- 
cial of the Jesuits, lately deceased. This 

* Butler's Works, vol. ii. p. 13. Proofs and Illustrations. 
Revolutions of the Germanic empire. London. 1807. I 
readily admit that there are in the same work several strong 
passages against the Pope's temporal power. 

t Book, &c. p. 133. 



GALLIC AN DECLARATION. 



305 



learned writer, in a work entitled " Consi- 
" derations on the Modern Opinion of the In- 
" fallibility of the Holy See in the Decision of 
" Dogmatical Questions," says as follows : — 
" Before the Declaration of the Gallican Church, 
" in 1682, it was the general persuasion of the 
" Roman-Catholics, that the solemn decisions 
" of the Holy See, in matters of Dogmatical and 
" moral importance, are infallible." — P. 1st, 
" No body is ignorant that the Assembly of 1682, 
" far from being approved by the head and body 
" of the Church, has been constantly blamed and 
" contradicted by both. An Assembly which pre- 
" sumed by its own authority to strip the de- 
" crees of the Sovereign Pontiff of the character 
'* of infallibility, would attempt with an ill grace 
" indeed to subject our judgment to its own de- 
£< cision, especially when the consent and ap- 
" probation of the Church has been formally 
" given. In questions which regard the faith, 
" or the preliminaries of faith, such as is the 
" power of the Church in dogmatical decisions, 
" we freely own, that we know not what is meant 
" by the style and title of the Gallican Church, as 
" it is to us a term without meaning, a word with- 
" out a corresponding idea, a mere non-entity " — 
Ibid. P. 4th and 5th. 

But Mr. Plowden is not the highest autho- 



30G 



GALLIC AN DECLARATION. 



rity I have to adduce on this point. You will, 
I am sure, receive with due reverence the fol- 
lowing decision of your own English Pope, the 
Rev. Dr. Milner, " There is not a single Prelate' 
— (says that " faithful expositor of the doc- 
" trines of your Church," and faithful recorder 
" of the facts with which they are connected" 
— so he is styled by you) — " There is not a single 
" Prelate in England or Ireland, who is not firynly 
" resolved to inject the four Articles of the Gal- 
" lican Church, commonly called the Gallican Li- 
" berties. We are very far from finding fault 
" with the partizans of the Articles, but we 
" think we see in these Articles the germ of all the 
" present mischief and, to be brief, we are deter- 
" mined not to subscribe to the Articles!'* 

* Milner's Supplement to his Pastoral Letter — London, 
1809 — p. 39. He was at this time, or soon after, the agent 
and representative of all the Irish Roman-Catholic Bishops. 
The four Articles of the Gallican Church are here subjoined 
fromMosheim, cent. xvii. s. 2. part 1. 

I. That neither St. Peter nor his successors have received 
from God any power to interfere, directly or indirectly, in what 
concerns the temporal interests of Princes and Sovereign States ; 
that Kings and Princes cannot be deposed by ecclesiastical au- 
thority, nor their subjects freed from the sacred obligation of 
fidelity and allegiance, by the power of the Church, or the 
Bulls of the Roman Pontiff. 

II. That the Decrees of the Council of Constance, which re- 



GALLIC A N DECLARATION. 



307 



And now, Sir, I am afraid I have tired you — 
I feel that I have tired myself. Only request- 
ing you, therefore, to reconcile these " Vari- 
ations entre les Catholiques," I very heartily 
wish you good night. 

present the authority of General Councils as superior to that of 
the Pope, in spiritual matters, are approved and adopted by the 
Gallican Church. 

III. That the rules, customs, institutions and observances, 
which have been received in the Gallican Church, are to be 
preserved inviolable. 

IV. That the decisions of the Pope, in points of faith, are 
not infallible, unless they be attended with the consent of die 
Church.— p. 155. 



( 308 ) 



LETTER XV. 

Conclusion. — Revival of Jesuits and the Inquisition.— 
Reasonable fears of the Church of Ireland. — Pastorini's 
Prophecies. — Parting Address to Mr. Butler. 

Having thus executed my purpose of exa- 
mining your statement of the doctrines of your 
Church on the several points enumerated by 
you, and of endeavouring to vindicate my own 
Church in the particulars which have been mis- 
represented, it remains for me only to say a few 
words before I conclude. 

It may, perhaps, be objected, that, although 
I have disclaimed the intention of writing 
against " Catholic Emancipation," the main 
part of what I have said, particularly in my 
latter pages, has a manifest tendency against 
that measure. If this be the case, I cannot help 
it. I have sought only to ascertain what are 
the real dogmas of your Church ; and having 
executed my purpose, (with whatever success,) 
I again say, " let the final bearing of those dog- 
" mas on the political question be that, and 
" only that, which truth shall warrant." 

In this wish every honourable man, whatever 



PAPAL ROME EVER THE SAME. 



3Q9 



be his opinions, will readily concur : none more 
readily, than that Statesman whose authority is 
most powerful, whose eloquence is most com- 
manding, whose wit is most poignant. Yet we 
have seen that authority, that eloquence, that 
wit, exerted to the utmost in giving weight and 
currency to statements, which are in truth 
grievously incorrect, but which, whether cor- 
rect, or otherwise, could not have been ex- 
amined by him who thus adopted them. Was 
this to be expected from such a quarter ? 

But, it may be asked, are you indeed afraid 
of the Pope ? Do you think it probable, that 
they who have long tasted the sweets of liberty, 
will ever voluntarily resume the fetters they 
have broken ? For England I have no such 
fear : other dangers may threaten us from this 
very measure — but from this I trust that we 
are free. Not that there is any ground of hope 
that the spirit of Rome is grown at all more 
tolerant, less ferocious, or less ambitious. It is 
declared by its own advocates to be unaltered, 
and unalterable. The history of ages attests 
the momentous truth. Twelve hundred years 
have now passed over the heads of men, since 
this spiritual tyranny first showed its portentous 
form : during that period, states and empires 
have disappeared from the face of the earth ; 



310 



RE- ESTABLISHMENT OF JESUITS, 



but Rome, Papal Home, is still the same, — 
still adheres with undiminished zeal to that 
one subtle, daring system, which, through every 
variety of power and fortune, it has contrived 
to cherish, and commonly to advance. 

We ourselves have seen it in the most abject 
state of depression, and have assisted it once 
more to rear its head, and raise its voice, over 
the nations which it has enthralled. Has it 
learned humility and moderation from its fall % 
Has it not rather sought to re-establish every 
engine of influence and power, which its means 
will allow, or the age will tolerate ? 

The first and favourite act of the late Pontiff,, 
after his deliverance from the bondage of Buona- 
parte, was to recall the Jesuits from the banish- 
ment, to which the common voice of indignant 
Europe had compelled Clement XIV. to con- 
sign them : and Ireland was soon chosen as a 
fit field for the exercise of their activity.* 

* See Dr. Doyle's Evidence before the Committee of the 
House of Lords, p. 388. One of his answers is so very appro- 
priate, that I venture to insert it here. 

" Q. How many Jesuits are established at Clongowes, and 
*? when did they first come there ? A. They settled there when 
" I was upon the Continent j so that I cannot tell exactly the 
" year. The number of Jesuits in it — as I believe they are 
" Jesuits in a certain xvay — I do not know, but I believe there 



•IK.SIJ ITS. 



Qualis, ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus, 
Frigida sub terra tumidum quern bruma tegebat ; 
Nunc positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventa, 
Lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga 
Arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis. 

I know that you, Sir, and not you alone, but 
some very liberal persons of our own Church, 
have taken the fair fame of the Jesuits under 
their especial protection. It is become a sort 
of fashion to applaud them ; and to speak of 
the odium, which has attached itself to their 
name, as another " vulgar error." — This is not 
an occasion, to dwell at length on the merits or 
demerits of that order : though I shall not be 
unwilling to enlarge on this topic, whenever 

" are fourteen clergymen, who have the care of educating young 
" Gentlemen resident there." 

I add also two other answers on account of the information 
which they give, — inviting the serious attention of my fellow- 
Protestants to this matter, when they have read the extracts 
from the Bull which suppressed this order, and from the 
Ukases of the present Emperor of Russia. 

" Q. What is the extent of their Property there ? A. I do 
" not know : they have a very fine house there; but what is the 
" extent of their Property, I do not know." 

" Q. Do you know from what funds, or by whom, the Pur- 
(t chase was made ? A. / believe the Purchase was made by 
" Mr, Kenny, who is one of the Family ; but the amount of the 
" Purchase-money I do not know." 



312 



JESUITS. 



you may make it necessary. Meanwhile I pre- 
sent you with some extracts from the Bull 
which suppressed, and the Bull which revived 
them ; and I leave you to compose this Bellum 
Papale as you may.* 



* Bull of Clement XIV., 2\st 
July, 1773, Dominus ac 
Redemptor noster, for 
suppressing the Order of 
Jesuits. 

" We have omitted no care, 
no pains, to arrive at a thorough 
knowledge of the origin, the 
progress, and the actual state 
of that Order," and find that 
" accusations of the gravest 
nature, and very detrimental 
to the peace and tranquillity 
of the Christian common- 
wealth, have been continually 
received against it." " We 
have seen, in the grief of our 
hearts, that neither these re- 
medies (by former Popes) nor 
an infinity of others since em- 
ployed, have produced their due 
effect/' " Discords, dissen- 
sions, scandals, which weaken- 
ing or entirely breaking the 
bonds of Christian charity, ex- 
cited the faithful to all the 
rage of party, hatreds, and en- 
mities. Desolation and danger 
grew to such a height that the 
-eery sovereigns, ivhose piety and 
liberality towards the Company 
were looked on as hereditary, 
were compelled to drive them 
from their states, persuaded 



Bull of Pius VII., 7th August, 

J 814, SOLICITUDO OMNIUM, 

for reliving the Order of 
Jesuits. 

" Wishing to fulfil the duty 
of our Apostolic ministry, as 
soon as Francis Kareu and 
other secular Priests resident 
for many years in the vast 
empire of Russia, who had 
been members of the Company 
of Jesus, suppressed by Clement 
XIV., of happy memory, had 
supplicated our permission to 
unite in a body, for the pur- 
pose of applying themselves 
more easily, in conformity 
with their institution, to the 
instruction of youth in religion 
and good morals, to devote 
themselves to preaching, to 
confession, and the administra- 
tion of the other sacraments, 
we felt it our duty more wil- 
lingly to comply with their 
prayer, inasmuch as the then 
reigning Emperor, Paul I. had 
recommended the said Priests 
in bis gracious dispatch, dated 
11th of August, 1800 ; and 
we, on our part, considering 
attentively the great advantages 
which these vast regions might 



JESUITS. 



313 



Again, we have witnessed the persecution of 
the Protestants in the South of France, before 



CLEMENT XIV. 

that there remained no other 
remedy to so great evils ; and 
that this step was necessary in 
order to prevent Christians from 
rising one against another, and 
from massacring each other in 
the very boso?n of our common 
mother the holy Church. The 
said our dear sons in Jesus 
Christ having since consi- 
dered, that even this remedy 
would not be sufficient towards 
reconciling the whole Christian 
world, unless the said Society 
was absolutely suppressed — 
made known their demands to 
our predecessor, Clement XIII. 
They united their common 
prayers and authority to obtain 
that this last method might be 
put in practice, as the only 
one capable of assuring the 
constant repose of their sub- 
jects, and the good of the 
Catholic church in general. 
Actuated by so many and im- 
portant considerations, and, as 
Ave hope, aided by the presence 
and inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit, compelled beside by the 
necessity of our ministry, 
which strictly obliges us to 
conciliate, maintain, and con- 
firm the peace and tranquillity 
of the Christian common- 
wealth, and remove every 
obstacle which may tend to 
trouble it — having further con- 
sidered, &c. that, it was very 



PIUS VII. 

thence derive 5 consideringhow 
useful those ecclesiastics, whose 
morals and doctrine were equally 
tried, would be to the Catholic 
religion," " authorized them 
to resume and follow the rule 
of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in 
order that the Companions 
might freely engage in the 
instruction of youth in religion 
and good letters, direct semi- 
naries and colleges, and, with 
the consent of the Ordinary, 
confess, preach the word of 
God, and administer the Sacra- 
ments." " The Catholic world 
demands with unanimous voice 
the reestablishmentof the Com- 
pany of Jesus." " We should 
deem ourselves guilty of a great 
crime towards God, if, amidst 
these dangers of the Christian 
commonwealth, we neglected 
the aids which the special pro- 
vidence of God has put at our 
disposal ; and if, placed in the 
bark of Peter, tossed and as- 
sailed by continual storms, we 
refuse to employ the vigorous 
and experienced rowers who 
volunteertheir services, in order 
to break the waves of a sea, 
which threatens every moment 
shipwreck and death." " We 
have decreed, that all the con- 
cessions and powers, granted 
by us solely to the Russian 
empire and the kingdom of the 
two Sicilies, shall henceforth 



314 



JESUITS. 



the persecutors themselves were secure in the 
enjoyment of their own power, — we have wit- 



CLEMENT XIV. 

difficult, not to say impossible, 
that the Church should recover a 
firm and durable peace so long 
as the said society subsisted, 
after mature deliberation, we 

do, &C. SUPPRESS AND ABOLISH 

the said Company : we deprive 
it of all activity whatever, of its 
houses, schools, colleges, hospi- 
tals, lands, &c." " None of 
them who shall become secular 
Priests or Clerks shall exercise 
the holy function of confessing 
and preaching without a per- 
mission in writing; nor shall 
theBishops or Ordinaries grant 
such permission to such of the 
Society, who shall remain in 
the colleges or houses hereto- 
fore belonging to the Society, 
to whom we expressly and for 
ever prohibit the administra- 
tion of the Sacrament of penance 
(in which, of course, confession 
was included) and the function 
of preaching.'' " Further we 
will that if any shall be desirous 
of dedicating thetnselves to the 
instruction of youth in any college 
or school, care be taken that they 
have no part in the government 
or direction of the same. In a 
word, the faculty of teaching 
youth shall neither be granted 
nor preserved, but to those 
who seem inclined to maintain 
peace in the schools, and tran- 
quillity in the world." 

In order to make the whole 



PIUS VII. 

extend to all other states." 
" We declare besides, and 
grant power that they may 
freely and lawfully apply to the 
education of youth in the prin- 
ciples of the Catholic faith, to 
form, them to good morals, and 
to direct colleges and seminaries : 
we authorize them to hear con- 
fessions, to preach, &c. In 
fine, we recommend strongly in 
the Lord, the Company and all 
its members to our dear sons in 
Jesus Christ, the illustrious and 
noble Princes and Lords tem- 
poral, &c. ; we exhort, we 
conjure them, not to suffer 
that these religious be in any 
way molested, but to watch 
that they be treated with all 
due kindness and charity, &c. 
&c." 

The present Pope, Leo.XII., 
in a brief dated August 5th, 
1824, bears honourable testi- 
mony to the Jesuits, and espe- 
cially to £< their fitness for the 
good education of youth, as the 
most prompt and only means 
to reform men." 



view of the character of these 



JESUITS, 



315 



nessed too the various laws by which the in- 
terests of Rome are continually advancing in 

modern Jesuits complete, I will add some extracts from two 
Ukases of the present Emperor of Russia, respecting those very 
persons, whose merits are made by Pius VII. a main ground 
of the revival of the order. 

In an Ukase, bearing date January 2d, 1816, having enu- 
merated most flagrant instances of their abuse of the confidence 
reposed in them, such as follow : " to induce a man to abjure 
" his faith, the faith of his ancestors, to extinguish in him the 
" love of those who profess the same worship, to render him a 
" stranger to his country, to sow divisions and discord in fami- 
" lies, to detach the brother from the brother, the son from the 
" father," &c. the Emperor thus expresses himself, " After 
such actions, we are no longer surprised that the order of these 
monks has been removed from all countries, and no where 
tolerated. In fact, what state can suffer in its bosom those who 
spread in its bosom hate and disorder ? Considering it as a wise 
and sacred duty to stop the evil in its origin, that it may not 
grow to maturity, and bring forth bitter fruits, we have resolved 
to ordain, 1, That all the monks of the order of the Jesuits 
immediately quit St. Petersburgh ; 2, That they do not enter 
our two capitals. We have given orders to our ministers of 
police, and public instruction, for the prompt execution of this 
determination." 

A second Ukase issued on March 20th, 1820. 

" His Majesty the Emperor has approved, on the 18th of 
this month, of a report from the Minister of Worship and Public 
Instruction," which, after referring to the former Ukase, thus 
proceeds : 

<f The Jesuits, although sufficiently warned by the animadver- 
sions which they had incurred, did not change their conduct, 
But the minister thinks it his duty to submit to the Emperor a 



316 



REVIVAL OF THE INQUISITION. 



that great kingdom, — not least the latest law 
of sacrilege. 

Lastly, and above all, we have witnessed the 
revival of that accursed instrument of spiritual 
tyranny, which no English Protestant, even in 
the security of his own land, can think on with- 
out horror. The office of the Inquisition, which 
owed its vigour at least, if not its birth, to the 
same Pontiff, who convened the great Laterane 
Council, and there devised those decrees against 
heretics which nothing but such an institution 
could execute, — that Inquisition which Paul IV. 
ascribed to the especial inspiration of the Holy 
Ghost, and with his dying breath commended 
to his Cardinals as essential to the very existence 
of the authority of the Church : that Inquisition 
is again in being, not in Spain only, but in Italy. 
Need I say more ? The monster lives ! 

Surely, Sir, all these <f signs of the times" 
may justify some apprehension, — not for Eng- 
land I trust; for here, the first outrageous as- 

system of provisions: 1, The definitive banishment of the 
Jesuits beyond the frontiers of the empire, with a prohibition 
of re-entering under any formj 2, The suppression of the Aca- 
demy of Jesuits at Polotsk, and of its dependent schools." 

Such was the conduct, and such the end of these exemplary 
men, whose merit was made by Pius VII. a main plea, I repeat, 
for reviving their order ; such too, I may add, is the order 
which has now very powerful establishments in this country 
and in Ireland. 



FEELTNGS OF IRTSII PROTESTANTS. 317 

sertion of Papal power, the first demand of any 
thing inconsistent with genuine loyalty and 
fidelity to the state, would be met by the scorn 
of all, and by the open defection of many, of 
those honourable names, which still adhere to 
your communion. But for Ireland, situated as 
that country is, what sober mind will venture 
to pronounce with equal confidence? Be it 
granted, that there are conflicting dangers, — ■ 
that many true friends of the reformed Church 
see greater mischiefs likely to befall that Church 
from continuing the civil disabilities to which 
your brethren are subjected, than from remov- 
ing them : — this is a question into which I will 
not here enter. Still, surely, we cannot won- 
der, much less can we blame, if the Irish Pro- 
testant discerns in the measures which Rome is 
even now elsewhere taking, an indication of 
the danger which a little increase of her power 
at home may bring to his own door. Such an 
apprehension is not diminished by witnessing 
the facility with which the first flimsy statement 
by any artful apologist of your Church is heard 
and believed,- — nay, made a ground for yield- 
ing, with an express recantation of former 
errors, whatever hitherto had been deemed 
most sacred. 

As little can they derive assurance and en- 
couragement from the treatment which their 



318 IRISH PROTESTANT CHURCH. 



own* Church every day receives, — from the 
ready ear too generally turned to every insinu- 
ation against the zeal, the piety, or the useful 
ness of its ministers, — from the gross exaggera- 
tions of its wealth, which are perpetually current, 
even in those places where true information is 
most to be expected, and false is most perni- 
cious, — lastly, from the little sympathy ever 
given to its reasonable fears, and the little dispo- 
sition ever shewn to discourage the turbulence 
of its rival, so long as it is directed against the 
Church alone. When Irish Churchmen see 
and meditate on these things, and then look 
back on the history of their country, they can- 
not be expected to view without terror the 

* It is true that the Church of Ireland suffers in this re- 
spect in common with the Church of England ; but I fervently 
wish, that the blows levelled at the former were as innocuous 
as those aimed at the latter. While on this subject, I may be 
allowed to remark on the last — calumny, I suppose I must 
not call it — vented against the clergy of the Church of Eng- 
land. All the newspapers report that in a late debate every 
beneficed clergyman was charged with perjury, inasmuch as 
on institution to his benefice, " he solemnly declares before 
" God that he feels inwardly moved at that very instant by the 
" Holy Ghost, to accept the office and administration thereof, 
" and that he accepts it for no other reason whatsoever." To 
that statement, I beg to be understood as giving the strongest 
contradiction that is consistent with good manners. In short, 
there never was a more utterly unfounded assertion ascribed to 
the quarter, whence this proceeded. 



IRISH PROTESTANT CHURCH. 



prospect of any change, which shall encrease 
the power of their ambitious and unrelenting 
foe. I can figure to myself that insulted, vili- 
fied, and threatened Church, prostrating herself 
at the bar of either House of Parliament, and 
invoking the spirit of British legislation to save 
her from the impending danger. " True," she 
may say, (( my sons are few in number, but 
" they are your brethren, of the same house- 
" hold of faith with yourselves; — true, the 
" pious wisdom of your ancestors has placed 
" me in affluence and plenty, — but that affluence 
" is employed, not in pampering luxury, but in 
" dispensing over the land, which so many 
" other proprietors have deserted, the blessings 
" of civilization, justice, and charity; and even 
" were it not so, yet property, as such, property 
" unstained by crime, was not wont to be an 
' ' object of hostile legislation to a British 
" senate.* But let this pass. I deprecate no 
" severity, in which an assembly of Protest- 
" ants can be persuaded to join; — one only 

* " As to Catholic emancipation," an Hon. Member of the 
House of Commons is stated to have said, " if no other bene- 
" fit was to accrue from the measure, but the transfer of the 
u tithes collected from the Catholic people to the Catholic Church, 
" he should consider it an act of justice and sound policy." See 
Debates, 5 th February, 1825. It can hardly be necessary to 
add, that another Hon. Member has pledged himself to pursue 
the downfall of the Irish Church, while he may have the faint- 
est prospect of succeeding. 



320 



IRISH PROTESTAXT CHURCH. 



(< thing I pray — decide concerning me as you 
" will, but, decide yourselves, — call not to 
" your councils, those by whom my existence 
" is even now openly denounced as a public 
" curse, and my very days are numbered: 
" hanc veniam supplici des, ut ipse, quodcunque 
<( fert animus, de me statuas, neque me in cujus- 
" quam Romani super bum ac crudek arbitrium 
" venire si nets." 

These, Sir, are the sentiments which the 
Church of Ireland cannot but feel under the 
dangers which press upon her. That they 
ought to overpower all other considerations con- 
nected with the question, I do not presume to 
say: but at least it may be hoped, that in every 
breast where justice has a place, they will be 
allowed their due weight, will be acknowledged 
to demand some better security, than the oath 
inserted in the bill now before Parliament, an 
oath which seems even to point to the Roman 
Catholic the fitness of overturning the esta- 
blishment of the present Church, if he be con- 
tent that his own shall not succeed in its place.* 

* cc And I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure, 
" any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, 
*' for the purpose of substituting a Roman-Catholic establishment 
<c in its stead." The Oath proceeds to say, C( I will never exercise 
t( any privilege, & c. to disturb the Protestant Religion, (not 
<( Church) or Protestant government in this kingdom."' This 
be it remembered, may be made exactly to accord with the 
wishes of J. K. L. 



PASTORINl S PROPHESY. 



321 



Forgive me if I add one other very obvious 
consideration, which seems to have been 
thought unworthy even of notice in the recent 
discussions of this question, I mean the Pro- 
phesy of Pastor im,* (really of an English Roman- 
Catholic Bishop named Walmsley,) that in this 
particular year, in the year 1825, the cause of 
Protestantism shall be subverted, the reign of 
the locusts shall cease, 6 ' the vial shall be poured 
out upon the Kings and Governors who sit, 
vested with power, upon the thrones of those 
heretical kingdoms," and " the Protestant states 
themselves shall be involved with their Princes 
in the calamities which ensue." 

* " General History of the Christian Church, chiefly deduced 
from the Apocalypse of St. John, by Sig. Pastorini." Dublin. 
ByWogan. 1812. 

ec When one reflects that of the three hundred years al- 
" lowed to the reign of the locusts, there remain only fifty or 
<e fifty five to run,f one cannot but wish, with an earnest heart, 
" that the people represented by those insects would enter into 
" a serious consideration of that circumstance." p. 227. * 

" But if, deaf to all admonitions, they continue hardened in 
" their own way, what remains to be done but to lament their 
e< misfortune, and, in bitterness of soul, turn our eyes from the 
" pouring out of the following vial ?" page 229. 

" Upon the throne therefore of this beast, (the heresy of the 
" Reformation,) the vial is poured out, that is, upon the Kings 
" and Governors of the Protestant States, as they are the per- 
<( sons that sit vested with power upon the thrones of those he- 
<f retical Kingdoms." ibid. 

•f This work was printed in the year 1771. 
Y 



322 



PA ST0 RINKS PROPHESY. 



Now, Sir, I am as ready to admit, as you can 
be to claim, the right of your commentators on 
the Apocalypse to draw from that Book any 
Prophesy which they honestly think is there de- 
livered . Divines of our own Church have repeat- 
edly exercised that right, and, whether wisely, 
or otherwise, have ventured to specify certain 
periods, nay even certain years, for the down- 
fall of the Church of Rome. Your right, in this 
respect, is clearly as good as ours. Neither is 
it necessary for my argument, that I should 
condemn (as, however, I certainly do condemn) 
the diffusion of this notion among the rude and 
easily excited population of a country like Ire- 
land. But I am content to take the fact as I 
find it, without ascribing blame to any one. 
And I then ask, whether it be prudent to 
minister any stimulants to the frenzy and fana- 
ticism which must necessarily accompany the 
belief of such a prediction ? much more to do 
that, which by minds so heated must be deemed 
a partial, but, unhappily, only a partial fulfil- 
ment of it ?• Would this be the wisest expe- 

* The Rev. Henry Cook (Moderator of the Synod of Ulster) 
says in his evidence before the Committee of the House of 
Lords, p. 342, that " almost one and all of the common people 
vnderstood by Catholic Emancipation a division of property, a res- 
toration of the forfeited estates, of which many of them lay claim 
to be the heirs." 



PARTING ADDRESS TO MR. BUTLER. 



323 



client to pacify and conciliate Ireland ? to induce 
the people to acquiesce in any arrangement 
which Parliament may devise ? Would it not 
rather give them fresh spirit and energy, in the 
attempt to realize for themselves the whole of 
that prediction, which Providence, they would 
think, had half accomplished to their hands ?* 

But I turn from the political question to 
matters more closely connected with our- 
selves. 

It is possible, that on reference to my pro- 
mise made in my first letter, you may complain 
of my having sometimes addressed you with less 
of respect — perhaps even with more of positive 
severity — than you may think I gave you 
reason to expect. To this I can only an- 
swer, that if you have been in some measure 

* Dr. Doyle says, (p. 399) (and I am far from doubting bis 
sincerity,) tbat he has strongly condemned the prophesy, and 
discountenanced the circulation of it. Mr. O'Connell ascribes 
the circulation (which he admits to have been considerable) to 
Protestants, and thinks that no effect has been produced vpon the 
lower orders of the Irish Roman Catholics by these prophesies !-~ 
Report of Lords' Committee, p. 262. If Mr. O'Connell' s opinion 
is really well founded, the Irish populace, under all the circum- 
stances of the times, must be the most sluggish race in existence. 
Whether this be their character let experience inform us. 
Y 2 



324 



PARTING ADDRESS 



disappointed, I have not been less so. I hoped, 
when I began, that I should be able to execute 
my purpose in a manner more satisfactory 
to my own feelings towards you. But I will 
not dissemble, that on a closer inspection of 
your work I found it much feebler in argument, 
and much more reprehensible on other ac- 
counts, than my first perusal of it (for it was 
on a first perusal that I thought it worth a 
comment) had induced me to suppose, In 
truth, as a specimen of reasoning, (where you 
affect to reason,) it falls so very far below what 
might have been hoped from you, that you 
must be content to see its weakness laid bare. 
Happily, you can afford this. You have a high 
reputation in an important branch of a most 
honourable profession — a reputation which must 
make you a considerable man, whether you are 
able to adorn it with literary honours or not. 
But even in literature, your praise is not of a 
low order. You are an elegant and pleasing 
writer ; one who always says well what he has 
to say : and if on this particular occasion, on 
matters of polemical theology, you have had little 
worth saying, you may solace yourself with the 
assurance, that by choosing a subject better 
adapted to your information, you can easily 
•redeem a failure which has indeed been too 
manifest. 



TO MR. BUTLER. 



325 



This must be my answer to any complaint 
against my occasionally treating you with some 
appearance of disrespect. For the other mat- 
ter, for the implied, and, in one or two in- 
stances, expressed, suspicions of your disin- 
genuousness, I have, as yet, no apology to 
make, no explanation to offer. I have thought 
you disingenuous, and I have told you so ; but 
in terms below, rather than above, the convic- 
tion of my own mind. Prove that I have sus- 
pected you erroneously, and I will be ready to 
retract my suspicion ; prove that I have sus- 
pected without fair cause, and you shall see me 
sue for your pardon in the face of that public, 
before whom I have given you the offence. But 
are you not conscious to yourself (I will not say 
of dishonourable dealing, for any thing that 
might appear to yourself dishonourable would, 
I am sure, have been rejected at once) — but are 
you not conscious of some degree of craft and 
management, which, if you were not quite sure 
your cause is a holy one, would have been less 
satisfactory to your own mind than, I doubt 
not, you found it ? Alas ! it is this readiness to 
regard too exclusively the end of our labours, 
without watching with constant jealousy the 
means we use in effecting it, that is the cause 



326 



PARTING APDRESS 



of more than half the misconduct, into wnich 
good and even conscientious men will some- 
times fall. Forgive me, if I regard your in- 
stance as a warning ; and if I call on all those 
who read what has passed between us, to be- 
ware of any the slightest indulgence in that 
dangerous habit, which has betrayed even Mr. 
Butler into duplicity, misrepresentation, and 
slander. 

To yourself it would be presumption in me 
to tender any advice ; but what I presume not 
to advise, I may be permitted to hope. — I hope, 
then, that when next you undertake to assert 
the cause of your Church, you will not be con- 
tent with satisfying yourself that that Church 
is so true, and all its doctrines so sound, that, 
whatever line of argument you adopt in its de- 
fence, you cannot greatly offend in using it; 
that a little concealment, or a little exaggera- 
tion, a little over-colouring, or a little shading 
and softening, (as occasion may prompt,) can- 
not be unjustifiable in arguing with those whose 
minds are not yet ripe for the full admission of 
truth. 

I hope, that you will rather take a lesson 
from the principles which direct your own con- 
duct in life, from that simplicity and singleness 
of purpose and of act, without which you could 



TO MR. BUTLER. 



327 



not have acquired, much less have retained, the 
warm regard which all who know you are ac- 
customed to feel for you. 

For myself, I dare not assert that I have in 
no instance fallen into the error here con- 
demned: — but this I will say, that I have ear- 
nestly and strenuously endeavoured to avoid 
it; — that I have rejected every opportunity of 
strengthening my argument, which appeared to 
me in any degree unjust or uncandid. May 
He, who alone fully knows the deceitfulness of 
the heart of man, — He, of whom, while employed 
in this poor work, I have humbly besought pro- 
tection from that sin which does so easily beset 
all who engage in controversy, — may He grant 
that, if I have erred, the error be not lonq; con- 
cealed from me! Shonld you, Sir, be the in- 
strument of correcting me for it, I trust I shall 
kiss your rod and be thankful. 

HENRY PHILLPOTTS. 



April, 1826. 



( 329 ) 



NOTE to page 54. 

Through the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Bandinell, 
Librarian of the Bodleian Library — a gentleman whose 
zealous assistance to the literary pursuits of others is 
rendered doubly valuable by the courtesy with which it 
is given — I have now obtained a copy of "the Duchess 
of York's Reasons for changing her Religion." The 
date of the paper is August 20, 1670: but it does not 
appear to have been published till ten or eleven years 
afterwards, when her Royal Highness had been long 
dead. Evelyn, ii. p. 109, seems to cast a doubt on its 
genuineness ; for he says (1st June, 1681), in a letter to 
Bishop Morley, " Father Maimbourg has had the im- 
" pudence to publish, at the end of his late Histoire du 
< 4 Calvinisme, a pretended letter of the late Dutchesse 
" of York," &c. : but its genuineness seems to be esta- 
blished beyond dispute by its being found among Lord 
Clarendon's own papers, and transcribed by the hand 
of her brother, Lord Cornbury. 
„ In this paper she speaks of " two of the most learned 
Bishops of England" (Morley of Winchester, as it was 
supposed, and Blandford, of Worcester, to whom, in suc- 
cession, her spiritual instruction had been entrusted) as 
having expressed to her some opinions in favour of cer- 
tain doctrines of the Church of Rome. The publication 
of this paper by Maimbourg caused Bishop Morley to 
give to the world a long letter of remonstrance, which 
he had addressed to the Duchess, before her paper of 
Reasons was written, and which contains not only the 
amplest vindication of himself, but also unhappily 
proves the grievous insincerity of the perverted Lady. 



( 330 ) 



In consequence of this, Bishop Morley's authority is, I 
believe, never claimed in favour of the Church of Rome. 
But Blandford had been long dead, and " dead men 
" tell no tales," therefore his name continues to figure 
in a prominent manner among the Protestant vouchers 
for such doctrines as it is found convenient thus to 
protect. 

Of this letter of Morley, dated January, 1670, there 
is a copy, indorsed by the hand of Lord Clarendon him- 
self. There is, besides, a most able and pathetic letter 
written by that illustrious exile himself to his daughter, 
and another, full of respectful but manly remonstrance 
to the Duke, on occasion of the rumours which had 
reached him concerning the change in her Royal High- 
ness's religious faith. These are dated in 1668. 

The last paper in the series is a letter by Lord Corn- 
bury to the Duke of York on the same subject, dated 
December 26, 1670. 

They are all so full of interest, that I had purposed 
to print them here entire ; but the great space, which 
they would occupy, forbids me. I trust, however, that 
the public will soon obtain them by some other chan- 
nel. 



APPENDIX 



LETTER 

TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL GREY, 

OCCASIONED BY 

His Lordship's Speech in the House of Lords, on moving the 
Second Reading of his Bill for Abrogating the Declarations 
contained in the 25th and 30th of Charles II., commonly 
called ''The Test against Popery." 



LETTER TO EARL GREY, 



My Lord, 

.The liberal indulgence of both Houses of Parliament, 
in permitting their proceedings to be communicated to 
the public, while on the one hand it has largely contri- 
buted to enlighten the minds of the people, by inform- 
ing them of the views and principles of their Rulers, 
has, on the other hand, ensured a degree of circulation, 
and consequently of importance, to every speech de- 
livered in Parliament, which it could not otherwise have 
obtained. Hence it sometimes becomes necessary to 
animadvert without doors on the arguments, or opinions, 
issuing from so great a place, and disseminated on so 
high authority. When this is done with decency and 
due respect, your Lordship will, I am sure, be among 
the last to object that it is also done with freedom; 
even though your own sentiments may occasionally be 
made the subject of remark. It cannot indeed be 
matter of surprise, if this should more frequently happen 
to your Lordship, than to almost any other member of 
the British Senate. Placed at the head of one of the 
most powerful of our political parties, eminently distin- 



334 



APPENDIX. 



guished by talents and eloquence, and, above all, by a 
character for political and private honour, which stamps 
an additional value on all your high endowments, you 
can hardly bring forward any subject of discussion in 
Parliament, without exciting the curiosity and fixing the 
attention of the nation at large. It is with this convic- 
tion of the important influence of any sentiments, which 
bear the sanction of your Lordship's name, that I pre- 
sume to address to you some remarks on the Speech 
with which you lately introduced a Motion for the 
second reading of your Bill to repeal so much of the 
25th and 30th Ch. II. as relates to the Declarations 
therein required. 

Your Lordship need not be apprehensive, that I am 
about to obtrude upon you an argument on what is 
commonly called the Catholic Question. That Question 
seems to me so purely political ; it is beset on both 
sides with so many difficulties, and involves so many 
conflicting considerations, which men of my profession 
are little likely, either from their studies or their habits, 
to appreciate correctly, that I would at all times rather 
avoid than court its discussion. On the wisdom of Par- 
liament, and on its steady and approved attachment to 
the established Church, I confidently rely, that what- 
ever course be finally adopted, whether of withholding 
or of granting what is asked, the real interests of that 
Church will always be regarded as of prime and funda- 
mental importance ; that no motive of temporary expe- 
diency will be deemed sufficient to justify a departure 
from the standing policy of the British Constitution; and 
that no concessions will be made, which Parliament, in 
its deliberate judgment, shall not find compatible with 



APPENDIX. 



335 



the security of the Church, and its permanent union 
with the State. 

But while I disclaim alike both the intention and the 
ability of discussing the political Question, I am the 
more emboldened to exercise my right of considering 
freely those religious topics, which unnecessarily, and, 
in my opinion, somewhat injudiciously, have been 
dragged into the discussion. Pardon me, my Lord, 
when I say, that your Lordship's late Speech seems to 
me peculiarly open to this remark: that it abounds with 
positions wholly untenable, and with facts greatly mis- 
apprehended ; that, in short, it affords a striking illus- 
tration of the danger, from which no strength of talents 
or splendour of eloquence can exempt their possessor, 
when he ventures on a field of argument which is 
foreign to his ordinary pursuits. 

It is my intention to adduce the evidence, on which 
I rest this charge ; as well as to animadvert on some 
positions advanced by other Noble Lords who bore a 
part in the debate, particularly by one, who supported 
your Lordship's motion at the greatest length. Permit 
me, however, first, to make a single observation on your 
Bill itself. 

The reason professed by your Lordship for wishing 
to repeal the Declarations in question was simply this, 
that they contain, in your opinion, an unjust, and, at 
any rate, a needless and wanton outrage on the feelings 
of several millions of our fellow-subjects. You ask, "if 
it be necessary to exclude Roman Catholics from office 
and power, is it likewise necessary to denounce their 
belief and revile their worship ? Must it not be galling 



336 



APPENDIX. 



to that body, not only to be denied the privileges, to 
which their fellow-subjects are admitted, but to hear 
themselves branded as the votaries of a blind supersti- 
tion, and the partizans of an idolatrous worship ?" 

On these questions your Lordship would, I appre- 
hend, find few persons disposed to differ from you. 
But, what may justly excite astonishment is, that so 
acute a mind as your Lordship's, if you were really in 
earnest (as doubtless you were) in seeking the object, 
which you professed, and had no ulterior hopes of 
obtaining by management what had so recently been 
refused when more directly sought, should not have de- 
vised a measure better calculated for its purpose. You 
were well aware, that the Oath of Supremacy has not 
been regarded either by Parliament or the Country 
as a sufficient security against the admission of Roman 
Catholics into the legislature ; that some further Test, 
which no member of the Church of Rome shall be able 
to take, has hitherto been deemed indispensable ; and 
that the only value of the existing Declarations is, that 
they constitute such a Test. Since this was the case, 
why was it not attempted rather to improve the Terms 
of these Declarations, than to repeal them ? to remove 
the offensive phrases, and to substitute others, which 
might equally secure the object for which the Test is 
retained ? 

That this was both possible, and very easy, was 
shown by a Noble Earl,* who spoke and voted on the 
same side with your Lordship. He well observed, 
that " the venerable men, who had deliberately framed 

* The Earl of Harrowby. 



APPENDIX. 



337 



the Articles of the Church of England, had not called 
Transubstantiation and the Adoration of Saints by such 
violent and abusive names, as were used by the framers 
of the Declaration Oath in the midst of the senseless 
panic arising out of a pretended Plot." Your Lordship 
will not be surprised that, as a Churchman, I should be 
proud of this example of wise and effectual moderation, 
derived from the conduct of the Governors of the 
Church, and standing in honourable contrast to the un- 
necessary violence of a Parliamentary enactment. Had 
this example been imitated in the Bill introduced by 
your Lordship, your professed object might easily have 
been provided for, without alarming the known appre- 
hensions of those who consider an efficient Test as still 
necessary. 

For there is, it must be confessed, a palpable anomaly 
in exacting from civil officers a much more violent decla- 
ration against these religious tenets, than is required as 
a qualification even for admittance into holy orders. Of 
the Invocation of Saints, the Ministers of the Church of 
England need only believe, that it is " a fond thing, 
grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather re- 
pugnant to the word of God." Every member of 
either House of Parliament must go further ; he must 
declare in the presence of God that it is superstitious 
and idolatrous. The Sacrifice of the Mass is con- 
demned by the Article in stronger terms ; still it is not 
called idolatrous : nor could it be necessary for the pur- 
pose of a Test, to require a more violent disclaimer of 
this tenet, than of the former. 

I repeat, therefore, that it is hardly to be imagined 
that a hearty endeavour to lower the Terms of the 

z 



APPENDIX. 



Declaration to the standard of the Articles of the 
Church would have been met with serious opposition. 
Your Lordship thought proper to pursue a different 
course ; and the consequence was, what most persons 
anticipated, that your Bill was rejected by a much 
larger majority, than had negatived, a month before, 
the open and avowed application for a removal of all 
the disabilities, which affect the Roman Catholics. 

From this remark on the Bill itself, I proceed to 
a consideration of your Lordship's and some other 
Speeches made in support of it; strictly confining 
myself, however, to the theological topics. For while 
I willingly admit, that the object of the Declaration, 
considered as a Test, might be equally obtained by 
adopting a milder form, yet I hold the propositions, as 
they now stand, to be not only true, but of main impor- 
tance to the cause of pure religion ; and it is because 
their truth has been assailed both by sarcasm and by 
argument, that I feel it my duty to trouble your Lord- 
ship with my present address. 

One of the most striking characteristics of your 
Speech is a readiness to inculcate the notion, that there 
is, in reality, very little difference of doctrine between 
the Churches of England and of Rome. The attempt 
is not a new one. It has long been the usage of the 
most wary advocates of the latter Church, when defend- 
ing their cause before the Protestants both of this 
country and of France, to state their tenets, and de- 
scribe their practices, in a manner the least offensive to 
the principles of those whom they address. Such a 
policy, restrained within the bounds of truth and since- 
rity, would merit nothing but commendation. These, 



APPENDIX. 



339 



however, are not restraints, which the writers of that 
Communion have always thought it necessary to ob- 
serve. From the age of Bossuet to the present time, 
there have never been wanting men, who will strain, or 
compress, the doctrines of their Church to whatever 
point the interests of the day may require : and if the 
more staunch and artless believers are sometimes 
shocked by the latitude in which they indulge, it is 
seldom difficult to prevent or to palliate the scandal of 
an open rupture. 

The success of this policy is much promoted by the 
impossibility of appealing to any authentic and com- 
plete Confession of the Faith of their Church. Even 
the Decrees of the Council of Trent, however commonly 
referred to as containing such a Confession, are found 
in fact to present a very imperfect sketch. Many im- 
portant particulars were there studiously expressed in 
language the most equivocal ; in order, if not to satisfy 
the wishes, at least to silence the opposition, of the va- 
rious conflicting parties, which disputed on almost every 
point. And, even when the Council was least divided, 
the agents of Rome often found their account in involv- 
ing the expressions of the Decrees in purposed ob- 
scurity : for the right of interpreting the doubtful De- 
crees of Councils has long been strenuously asserted 
by the Papal See. But, on the other hand, as this 
right has been no less strenuously denied, especially by 
the Gallican Church, which has not seldom taken upon 
itself to resolve its own doubts, we have here another 
most abundant source of difficulty in ascertaining the 
doctrines really affirmed by this celebrated Council. 
The last cause, which I need mention, but not the least 

z 2 



340 



APPENDIX, 



important, is, that many tenets cannot fairly be esti- 
mated by the words in which they are expressed, even 
when those words are not in themselves obscure : for 
instance, what is the due honour and veneration to be 
paid to Images and Relics, or the true nature of the 
Invocation of Saints, and the worship that may be ad- 
dressed to them, can only be learned by marking the 
customs and instituted observances of different coun- 
tries within the Roman Pale. 

It is an obvious consequence of this uncertainty, that 
a skilful sophist may easily frame a statement of the 
doctrines of his Church, plausible enough to impose on 
any one who forms his notions of the true character of 
Popery from the manner in which it is presented to 
his observation in a Protestant country. But that your 
Lordship should be deceived by such an artifice is only 
a fresh instance of the ease, with which the most pow- 
erful minds can suffer themselves to be blinded by their 
own prejudices. If no political bias had influenced 
your judgment, it would have been impossible for you 
to overlook the wide and irremovable barrier, which 
separates the tenets of your own Church from the cor- 
ruptions of Rome. You could not have forgotten, that 
the majority of our Articles are framed in direct oppo- 
sition to those corruptions ; that in what relates to the 
Rule of Christian Faith, — to man's justification, — to the 
nature of good works, whether they be meritorious, — 
to the Church, its fallibility and its authority, — to the 
duty of religious worship, whether it is to be confined 
to God, or communicated to the Virgin Mary, Angels, 
or Saints, — to the Adoration of Images and Relics, — 
to common Prayer in language understood by all, — to 



APPENDIX. 



341 



the Sacraments, their number, matter, form, and effi- 
cacy, — to the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, and 
the perfect propitiation and satisfaction wrought by it 
for the sins of men, — to his mediation and intercession 
for us with the Father, — that in all and every of these 
particulars there are irreconcilable differences between 
the two Churches. In short, you could not thus have 
been made an instrument to revive mis-statements, 
which have been long exploded; nor have lent the 
high support, not merely of your name and character, 
but also of your talents and your eloquence, to a cause, 
the merits of which seem absolutely unheeded by you. 

But your Lordship gives an authority for this view of 
the near accordance of the two churches, which you 
might well expect would have decisive influence in an 
Assembly of British Protestants. You " beg leave to 
call the attention of their Lordships to a letter of Arch- 
bishop Wake. That Reverend Divine had engaged in 
a controversy with the Doctors of the Sorbonne, but had 
candidly admitted, that in many things the Church of 
England and the Church of Rome maintained the same 
doctrines and practised similar rites. — The attachment 
of this Divine to his country, his loyalty to his Sove- 
reign, and his conscientious adherence to the tenets of 
the Church, of which he was at the head, could not be 
doubted; and yet he admitted, that in a comparison 
between the Church of England and Church of Rome, 
their articles of faith differed very little, their discipline 
still less, and that in fundamentals they were nearly the 
same. After such a declaration from such an authority, 
could their Lordships with a safe conscience concur in 
reviling the Religion of the Roman Catholics?" 



312 



APPENDIX. 



If, my Lord, it could otherwise be doubted, whether 
you had made your representation of the resemblance 
of the two Churches on the authority of some most dis- 
ingenuous guide, this quotation would have decided the 
point. There is in it, indeed, just the due admixture 
of truth to give to the falsehood, which is its main cha- 
racteristic, the fullest temporary effect. It is true, that 
Archbishop Wake had engaged in a controversy with 
some Members of the Church of Rome, and that he 
wrote to a Doctor of the Sorbonne the sentence which 
your Lordship quotes : but it is not true, that he wrote 
thus either to, or of, those with whom he had been in 
controversy: nor, which is more important, that the 
alleged admission at all respected the doctrines of that 
Church. The real history of the matter was shortly 
this : — 

During the violent proceedings of the Court of Rome 
against that part of the Gallican Church, which refused 
to receive the Bull " Unigenitus" as an ecclesiastical 
law, some Doctors of the Sorbonne, particularly Du 
Pin, the ablest and most distinguished among them, — 
whether from a sincere intention of shaking off the 
Papal yoke, which seemed to be borne with some impa- 
tience throughout France, or merely with the hope and 
purpose of terrifying the Vatican into better treatment 
of themselves, or perhaps from a mixture of both these 
motives, — testified their wish for a reconciliation with 
the Church of England. Archbishop Wake, to whom 
this intimation was conveyed, answered, as became a 
Christian Bishop, in terms which at once bespoke his 
anxious desire of peace and union, and his inflexible 



APPENDIX. 



313 



constancy in the cause of truth.* In the progress of 
the correspondence, the French Divines began to form 
a plan of union, and even to state the terms on which 
they were willing to effect it. Du Pin drew up a paper, 
entitled " Commonitorium de Modis ineundae pacis inter 
Ecclesias Anglicanam et Gallicanam." Without en- 
tering largely into the contents of this document, (a copy 
of which is still extant among the Wake MSS. in the 
library of Christ Church, Oxford,) it may be sufficient 
to say, "that it examined separately the Articles of the 
Church of England, specifying the extent to which 
agreement with them could be carried; and that in 
many important particulars great concessions were made. 
Especially, the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for 
salvation, with a slight salvo for Tradition, as not ex- 
hibiting new articles of Faith, but only confirming and 
illustrating those contained in Scripture, — Justification 
by Faith alone, — the fallibility even of the Church of 
Rome, considered as a particular Church, — were freely 
admitted. Indulgences were limited to relaxations of 
temporal penances in this life; the worship of the cross, 
relics, and images, was reduced to an external respect, 
and that not of a religious nature; the Invocation of 
Saints seems to have been given up; the fitness of cele- 
brating divine worship in the vulgar tongue was not 
disputed ; the Communion in both kinds was held in- 
different ; and in the Article of the Supremacy of the 
civil Magistrate some not inconsiderable points were 
conceded. Even Transubstantiation (though the doc- 
trine, without the name, was affirmed) seems to have 

* See an account of the whole of this transaction in Appendix IH. 
to Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History. 



344 



APPENDIX. 



been retained only as a speculative point, without in- 
volving the duties of adoring the Host, or those other 
consequences which have made it so justly revolting to 
all considerate Protestants. " In our liturgy," says 
Wake himself in a letter to his English correspondent, 
" there is nothing but what they allow of, save the sin- 
gle rubric relating to the Eucharist; in theirs nothing 
but what they agree may be laid aside, and yet the 
public offices be never the worse, or more imperfect for 
want of it." 

Still, notwithstanding these advances, the Archbishop 
was not very sanguine in his expectation of a re-union. 
Without the entire exclusion of the Papal authority 
from the Church of France, he despaired of an effec- 
tual accommodation ; with it he hoped for every thing. 
This therefore was the point, to which he directed his 
main efforts: but this, he plainly saw, could only be 
accomplished through the co-operation of the Court. — • 
Some prospect of such a co-operation was for a while 
presented. The Regent and his Minister shewed them- 
selves favourable : but the artifices of Rome prevailed ; 
and the attraction of a Cardinal's hat for the infamous 
Du Bois was sufficient to extinguish the dawn of refor- 
mation in France, almost as soon as it had arisen. 

It was after the Archbishop's hopes of the assistance 
of the Court had proved illusory, that he wrote to Du 
Pin the letter,* from which your Lordship's quotation 

* The following is a copy of the main parts of the letter. No. xv. 

Speraveram equidem tua auctoritate, constantia, eruditione, pie- 
tate, moderatione, quae omnia adeo in te perfecta esse noscuntur, ut 
vix in aliis singula, prseclari aliquid ad Dei gloriam Ecclesiaeque 
Gallicanse utilitatem perfici potuisse. Credideram advenisse tempus, 
in quo, excusso Romanz Tyrannidis jugo, una nobiscum in eandem 



APPENDIX. 



345 



was taken ; — and I may now venture to ask, whether 
any thing more fallacious can be devised, than to repre- 
sent the language of Wake addressed, under such cir- 
cumstances, to Du Pin, as intended to characterize the 
doctrine and discipline of the Church of Rome. That 
your Lordship is incapable of knowingly becoming a 
party in such an imposture, I am well aware : and if the 
guide, whoever he may be, who has thus grossly misled 
you, shall appear to you less worthy of your confidence 
in future, the trouble of reading these pages will not 
have been entirely thrown away. 

Archbishop Wake, my Lord, would have been among 
the last to be seduced into any approval of the corrup- 
tions of Rome. He was a man eminent indeed for the 
truly Christian benevolence which directed his life, his 
actions, and his thoughts ; kind towards the persons of 
all from whom he differed ; a lover and a cultivator of 
peace, but of that genuine peace, which never can be 
purchased by a surrender of the truth. He was early 
and long engaged in controversy with the papists ; and 
of all the great Divines, who stood forward in defence 
of the Church of England in that protracted and me- 
morable contest, he, after Stillingfleet, was at once the 
most profoundly skilled in the learning, the most acute, 
solid, and judicious, in the argument of his cause. His 

communionem coalesceretis. In dogmatibus, prout a te candidc pro- 
ponuntur, non admodum dissentimus : in regiraine Ecclesiastico mi- 
nus : in fundamentalibus, sive doctrinam sive disciplinam spectemus, 
vix omnino. Quam facilis erat ab his initiis ad concordiara pro- 
gressus, modo animos haberemus ad pacem compositos ! Sed hoc 
principibus sseculi non arridet, Unionis inimicis etiam plurimura dis- 
plicet, &c. 



APPENDIX. 



gentle spirit led him to be moderate ; but to convince 
you how he really thought and wrote of the Church of 
Rome, I will beg leave to add one or two quotations 
from his works in return for yours. 

The charge of idolatry is repeatedly enforced by 
him ; and that not incidentally, and by the way, but 
directly and argumentatively. The title of one of his 
chapters is as follows : " That the Church of Rome 
thus worshipping of images, is truly and properly guilty 
of idolatry. " # 

Of the Invocation of Saints, after shewing largely 
that it is " repugnant to God's word, contrary to an- 
tiquity, unreasonable, senseless, and unprofitable :" — 
" but I insist," says he, " too long on these reflections. 
I add only, to close all, that this invocation of Saints is 
as impious as it is unprofitable ; for first, to take this 
practice in the most moderate sense that may be,"f 
&c. 

Of the Adoration of the Host, he says, that " the 
Church of England, consequently to her principles of 
the Bread and Wine remaining in their natural sub- 
stances, professes that she thinks it to be Idolatry, and 
to be abhorred of all faithful Christians"! 

Of the Sacrifice of the Mass, that it " both makes up 
the chiefest part of the Popish worship and is justly 
esteemed one of the greatest and most dangerous er- 
rors that offend us. "§ 

* See Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrines of the 
Church of England. Art. IV. S. 3. 
-f See the same. Art. III. S. 4. 

% See Exposition of the Doctrines of the Church of England. 
Art. XX. 

§ See the same. Art. XXI. 



APPENDIX. 



347 



This, my Lord, is only a sample of the opinions of 
that eminent prelate, whom you have been seduced to 
quote as a favourer of those doctrines, which he thus 
condemns. I will conclude with stating what he says 
of such persons as those who have beguiled your Lord- 
ship. " When I see men so industrious in expounding 
the doctrines of their church into a sense that may come 
as near the Reformation as is possible-; when for the 
doing of this they are forced to so many shifts as plainly 
shew there is something of violence in the undertaking ; 
words forced from their natural signification," &c. " It 
is one of my chiefest crimes, and for which I perceive 
there is no indulgence to be expected, that I have in 
some measure endeavoured to bring these designs to 
light ; to shew that all this is indeed but a lure to draw 
men in, and that when once they are ensnared, they will 
then find things to be far otherwise than they are made 
at first to believe : or that if they are in good earnest 
in their present pretences, then they herein plainly de- 
part from what their church once held, and are upon 
that very account esteemed by others of their commu- 
nion at this day to be little better than protestant He- 
retics." # 

But besides the assertion of the general resemblance 
between the two Churches, your Lordship has been in- 
duced to say in particular that " the doctrine of Tran- 
substantiation, which is declared to be idolatrous, does 
not differ so widely from the doctrine of the Protes- 
tants on the same subject, as to authorise them to de- 
clare thus strongly against it : that the text of Scripture, 



* See Preface to Second Defence. 



348 



APPENDIX. 



from which the Roman Catholics deduce their doctrine, 
is interpreted by our own and other Churches with so 
slight shades of difference, that the generality of those, 
who take the oaths, may not always sufficiently examine 
to be able to come to the decision required." 

As your Lordship has often subscribed the Declara- 
tion in question, it may be gratifying to you to be in- 
formed, that you have not in this particular been guilty 
of that breach of charity which you apprehend. You 
have not declared the doctrine of Transubstantiation to 
be idolatrous. Your Lordship and the other Members 
of the Legislature have on this subject merely declared 
that the tenet is erroneous ; " that in the Sacrament of 
the Lord's supper there is not any Transubstantiation 
of the elements of bread and wine into the body and 
blood of Christ :" and if you have never sufficiently ex- 
amined the question to enable you to come to this deci- 
sion, you must pardon me, if I suggest, that it is rather 
early to begin reading a theological lecture upon it. — - 
You must also pardon me, if I express some degree of 
surprise, as well as regret, that your Lordship should 
not only have gone on from Parliament to Parliament, 
during the whole of your political life, " solemnly and 
sincerely in the presence of God professing, testifying 
and declaring," that you believe a certain proposition, 
but also should have introduced a Bill to expunge that 
Declaration from the Statute Book, without taking the 
trouble of informing yourself accurately what it contains. 
I agree with your Lordship, that " it is too much the 
practice in every department of our Government to re- 
quire the taking of oaths ; and that one of the conse- 
quences of such a practice is to lessen the solemnity of 



APPENDIX. 



31<J 



that awful obligation." But till I had your authority 
for it, I should not have ventured to suppose, that any 
sanction (so far as example is a sanction) of that irreve- 
rence, which in tidewaiters and excisemen might perhaps 
less surprise us, should be found in so high a place. Is 
it indeed too much, that once in six or seven years your 
Lordships should be called upon to give that security, 
which, whether wisely or otherwise, the State has 
judged necessary, and to give it upon your oaths? Is 
it too much to hope, that these oaths would be taken 
w T ith at least an understanding of what is done, and not, 
as your Lordship states, " without consideration, and 
merely as matters of course?" I am willing to think, 
that you would not in this instance wish your language 
to be interpreted according to the letter ; that it must 
rather be viewed in the light of a rhetorical exaggera- 
tion : — although another Noble Lord, # who is not 
accustomed to speak lightly on any subject, talks of the 
same " solemn mockery" as habitually practised in your 
august Assembly ; and although a Reverend Prelate is 
stated to have answeredf your appeal to his venerable 
Bench, by owning " for himself, that after having taken 
such oaths, as the law directed, he had not unfrequently 
felt a very strong sensation of self-reproach." 

My Lord, I know that Reverend Prelate, and to 

* Lord Grenville. 

f His Lordship's words are thus reported : — " In such solemn 
transactions as Oaths, care ought to be taken to prevent the con- 
science from being in any way wounded. He therefore deplored 
that Members of that House were compelled to make such a declara- 
tion as they did when they took their seats ; and for himself he could 
only say, that after having taken such oaths," &c. — See Morn. Chron. 
June 11, 1819. 



350 



APPENDIX. 



know is to honour and to love him. I know that he is 
incapable of thus tampering with his conscience, even 
for the high honour of a Seat in your Lordship's House. 
Would that I also knew, that he had sufficient com- 
mand over his own ardent zeal in a cause which is 
doubtless near his heart, to prevent him from thus 
breaking forth into declarations, which scandalize those 
who know him not, and afflict those who do ! He is not 
one of those Lay Peers, of whom your Lordship thinks 
it probable, that they have never inquired into the doc- 
trine or practices which they condemn. Long before 
he sate in Parliament, he must necessarily have inquired 
and satisfied himself of the truth or falsehood of them. 
What then can he be supposed to mean, when he speaks 
of these conrpunctuous visitings ? If there be any want 
of charity in requiring the test, still there can be none 
in taking it. He only complies with the law of the land, 
and discharges a duty by the compliance. Does he 
disbelieve what he has thus solemnly and knowingly 
affirmed ? It is impossible. Or, even if he does, and if 
in the hurry, which your Lordship describes, he may 
once unadvisedly have committed that rash act, which 
inflicted feelings of so much bitterness, can he have re- 
peated it ? can he have not unfrequently incurred these 
very strong sensations of self-reproach ? My Lord, I 
grieve that a mind so upright and conscientious as the 
venerable Prelate's should be betrayed into the appear- 
ance of so much insincerity :— I grieve that so faithful a 
votary of pure Religion should thus appear to counte- 
nance in practice some of the worst errors ever ascribed 
to the Church of Rome: — I grieve that a Bishop, 
formed on many accounts to be an ornament of the 



APPENDIX. 



Bench on which he sits, should join, in the intemperate 
blindness of the moment, to fix a stigma and oppro- 
brium upon the Episcopal character, which, if it were 
just, not even his learning, liberality, benevolence 3 and 
Christian meekness, would suffice to wash away.* 

* The Bishop of Norwich has since published a Report of his 
Speech; whether in consequence of the appearance of the former edi- 
tion of this Letter I do not presume to guess. He does not say, that 
the Report which I cited is inaccurate, but he gives the following 
statement of the words used by him from his own recollection. 

" In the course of a protracted life, I never made the declaration in 
question without experiencing the most unpleasant of all sensations, 
the sensation of self-reproach; when I recollected, that I had pro- 
nounced four parts out of five, of the Christian world, to be supersti- 
tious and idolatrous." 

For any difference which there may be between these words, and 
those cited by me, (if the latter are indeed denied,) I would wish to 
give the amiable Prelate all the advantage which can be fairly derived 
from it. To this part of his Lordship's Speech I will not recur. 

But I am compelled to say (because it is a matter immediately con- 
nected with my main argument) that this is not all which the Bishop 
has given to the world in his own Report of his Speech. In it he has 
said, that " the Declarations contain an unjust and vilifying censure 
upon the doctrines of millions of our conscientious fellow Christians." 
Does this mean (as it would seem to mean) that the censure is false? 
for, how indeed can a censure of doctrines (under such circumstances) 
be unjust unless it be fake ? — But if it be false, how can the Reve- 
rend Prelate affirm it upon his oath? 

Would that even this were all ! But his Lordship has gone further : 
he has given us under his own hand the two following sentences. " I 
am firmly persuaded, that if it were not for the ambiguous meaning of 
the zoords made use of in this Declaration, and the glorious uncertainty 
of the laze, arising from this ambiguity, there are very many who hear 
me, who would experience the same misgiving, when they take their 
seat in either House of Parliament. I do not mean to say, that with 



352 



APPENDIX. 



But I turn to less painful matters, — to the proposi- 
tions really contained in the Test. 

some ingenuity, a satisfactory mode of making this declaration may not 
be devised ; I have satisfied my own mind; but I am still of opinion, 
that, upon so solemn an occasion, no ingenuity, no skill in the interpre- 
tation of language, should ever he called for." 

To these last words I fully assent, and so, in truth, does the legis- 
lature : for in the very Declaration, which the Bishop has so often 
made, and made upon his oath, though always experiencing that 
bitterest of all sensations, " a sensation of self-reproach," and, 
" although compelled to exercise some ingenuity to devise a mode of 
making it which can satisfy his own mind," — in that very declaration 
the Legislature has required him to say, and he has said, " I do 
solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify, and declare, that I 
do make this declaration, and every part thereof in the plain and ordi- 
nary sense of the words, as they are commonly understood by English 
Protestants, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation 
whatsoever." 

Here we see that " all ingenuity in devising modes of making the 
Declaration" is absolutely disclaimed upon oath. The Declaration is 
to be made " in the plain and ordinary sense of the words, as 
" they are commonly understood by English Protestants." Now, 
what is the plain and ordinary sense of the following words, so un- 
derstood? " In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any 
Transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body 
and blood of Christ:" and again: " The Invocation or Adoration of 
the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, 
as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and 
idolatrous." 

Is there any ingenuity necessary to find out the plain meaning of 
these words, as commonly understood by English Protestants? and if 
that meaning be plain, is not all ingenuity, in devising modes of sub- 
scribing to them, excluded upon oath ? What and where is the ambi- 
guity of which the Bishop speaks ? where is that " glorious uncer- 
tainty of the law" in this particular, except in the too subtle mind 
of its Right Reverend Commentator? 



APPENDIX. 



353 



The first is, " that there is no Transubstantiation of 
the sacramental elements into the body and blood of 
Christ ;" and this is a proposition which, to English 
Protestants, is attended with as little difficulty as any 
that can be put. Your Lordship will at once perceive 
that it involves none of those niceties on w^hich you are 
pleased to dwell : that all the learning employed by you 
about Consubstantiation,* the real presence, and what- 
ever is meant by " something like the real presence," is 
absolutely thrown away ; in short, that all that is 
required is the simple negation of one wild tenet, of 
which you yourself say, that you, and those whom 
you address, " must, as Members of the Church of 
England, of course disbelieve it." 

But uncalled for as these topics are, it is nevertheless 
observable, that the same peculiar infelicity, which has 
marked every other part of your Lordship's labours in 
Divinity, has persecuted you even here also. You ap- 
pear to have confounded the Doctrine of Transubstan- 
tiation with that of the real presence, and to have 
charged every person, who has maintained the latter 
notion, with admitting the former, or at least with hold- 
ing what can hardly be distinguished from it. Among 
others, Archbishop Laud's j- sentiments have been made 

* His Lordship is reported to have said, that " the Church of Eng- 
land believed in what was called Consubstantiation." But it is quite 
impossible, that he could have said any such thing; unless, indeed, 
he takes his notion of the tenets of the Church of England from such 
authorities as the Edinburgh Review, which pronounces us to be 
Lutherans. See above, p. 61. 

t In the Canons made in 1640, notoriously under the direction of 
Laud, the 7th speaks expressly of the " idolatry committed in the 
Mass*" 

A A 



354 



APPENDIX. 



the subject of your misconstruction ; with what justice 
will appear from the following quotation, which will at 
the same time set your Lordship right both as to the 
notions of our early Reformers, and as to the passage 
quoted by you from our Church Catechism. The 
words are Cranmer's, cited and adopted by Laud :* 

" If you understand by this word really, reipsa, that 
is, in very deede and effectually, so Christ by the 
Grace and efficacie of his passion is indeed and truly 
present to all his true and holy members. But if ye 
understand by this word corporaliter, i. e. corporally, 
so that by the bodie of Christ is understanded a natu- 
rall body and organicall, the proposition is cleane con- 
trary to the holy word of God." 

I will subjoin Ridley's account of the real presence; 
" I say and believe that there is not only a signification 
of Christ's bodie set forth by the Sacrament, but also 
that therewith is given to the godly and faithfull the 
grace of Christ's bodie, that is, the food of life and im- 
mortalitie."f 

It may not be amiss to add, that not only these, but 
other, Martyrs to the truth, in the reign of Mary, 
suffered at the stake, chiefly, for holding that very 
doctrine of the real presence, as expressed above, which 
the purveyor of theological information to your Lord- 
ship has taught you to consider as similar to Transub- 
stantiation. 

The next proposition in the Test respects the Invo- 
cation of Saints, that it is superstitious and idolatrous. 



* Against Fisher, the Jesuit, p. 192. 
f Ridley apud Fox Mart. T. iii. p. 64. 



APPENDIX, 



355 



On this your Lordship appears to have said nothing, 
except expressing a pretty strong doubt, whether the 
House knew " what the (Roman) Catholics mean by 
the Adoration of the Virgin Mary, or the Worship of 
Saints." It is not for me to presume to remark on the 
fitness, or unfitness, of any opinions, which your Lord- 
ship may entertain, respecting the indifference of any of 
your Noble Brethren to one of the plainest duties that 
can attach to them. That it is their bounden duty to 
inform themselves on a subject, respecting which they 
give so solemn an attestation of their belief, will not 
admit of argument. Happily, in this instance, the duty 
is very easily discharged : and I may venture to appeal 
to your Lordship, whether the question respecting the 
Invocation of Saints is attended with more difficulty, 
than the meanest problem in political economy which 
ever engaged your attention. 

A Noble Earl, to whose Speech, distinguished by its 
moderation, I before took the liberty of referring, does 
not hesitate to say, that he " believes many of the prac- 
tices of the lower orders of the laity and priesthood in 
(Roman) Catholic countries to be idolatrous :"• — and 
this, I submit, is sufficient to support the truth of the 
proposition in the Test. But his Lordship adds, that 
he " sees no idolatry in the recommendation of the 
Council of Trent, the great authority of that Church." 

It is very true that the Decree of the Council does 
not explicitly say more, than that " it is good and 
useful suppliantly to invoke the Saints, reigning with 
Christ in Heaven, and to have recourse to their 
prayers, interest, and assistance, in order to obtain 
a a 2 



356 



APPENDIX. 



blessings from God through our Lord Jesus Christ."* 
But that no idolatry is implied, even in this case, can 
scarcely be granted. I am, however, unwilling to tres- 
pass on your Lordship's patience with an argument on 
the subject : I will only say, that this is a case where, 
in the purposed absence of all express declaration in 
the words of the Council, we must form our judgment 
from the usages which prevail in Roman Catholic coun- 
tries ; and then I think that the Noble Earl will on re- 
flexion extend his condemnation to classes both of the 
laity and the priesthood above the lower. Let him even 
look to a most authoritative document, the Creed of 
Pope Pius IV., which every one admitted to Holy 
Functions in that Church is bound by oath, not only to 
believe, but to teach the people. The 20th Article is 
as follows : " I do likewise firmly hold, that the Saints 
reigning with Christ are to be worshipped and invoked, 
(venerandos atque invocandos esse,) and that they do 
offer Prayers unto God for us." Is not this something 
more than a recommendation ? 

The last clause in the Declaration affirms the idola- 
trous nature of the Sacrifice of the Mass. 

This is a point, on which the office I have under- 
taken brings me into conflict with the opinions of a 
Noble Lord, to whom, if the expression of profound 
respect from so obscure an individual as myself were of 
any moment, it would be tendered most sincerely. I 
Tespect that Noble Lord's learning, and zeal for learn- 



* Sess. xxv 



APPENDIX. 



357 



ing, — his unquestioned fidelity to the cause of true reli- 
gion, — his firm and upright adherence to the interests 
of his country, even when they have demanded from 
him the sacrifice of his party attachments : — I respect 
him, too, as filling with dignity ami honour that high 
place in the University of Oxford, which yet, as a friend 
of the consistency of the University, particularly in re- 
lation to this very Test, I thought, and still think, 
ought never to have been opened to him. But the 
more highly I respect him, the more imperative I feel 
the duty of opposing sentiments, which, proceeding 
from such a quarter, are doubly mischievous. 

His Lordship denies that the practice of the Church 
of Rome in the most important article of its worship, 
the Sacrifice of the Mass, is justly liable to the charge 
of Idolatry. He makes a distinction, which, in his opi- 
nion, both acquits that Church, and allows those, who 
acquit it, to subscribe the Declaration. The distinction 
is as follows : " That if Protestants, believing the con- 
secrated elements to be bread and wine, should worship 
them as God, this would be idolatrous ; not so in the 
case of Roman Catholics, who think them to be really 
God." 

Let me be permitted briefly to examine the distinc- 
tion itself, before T inquire into the application of it by 
the Noble Lord. 

In the first place, we must not forget what is included 
in the belief of the Roman Catholics themselves. They 
hold that " although the substance of the Bread and 
Wine in the Sacrament is annihilated, yet their species 
remain ;" and the substance of the Body and Blood of 
Christ, therefore, together with the species of Bread. 



358 



APPENDIX. 



and Wine, are the whole formal object of adoration. 
Now of these species (when the substance is annihilated) 
I certainly will not pretend to define the nature : but 
be they what they may, they are, and must be confessed 
to be, mere creatures. Even, therefore, on the supposi- 
tion of a real change of substance, creatures of some 
sort are made to partake of divine worship ; a result, 
which old-fashioned Theology would consider as 
amounting to Idolatry. 

But, 2dly, if a mistake on the part of the Worshipper 
is to excuse the Worship, it will not be very easy to 
prove the charge of idolatry against any persons what- 
ever. To give divine worship, ultimately, to any object 
which the worshippers did not themselves believe to be 
God, is a flight of impiety which few idolaters ever 
reached. 

3dly, If it be true that, because the Roman Catholics 
are right in the intended object of their adoration, and 
mistaken only as to the fact, whether that which they 
adore be really he, therefore their worship is not ido- 
latrous; then it will follow, that those, who gave 
divine worship to Simon Magus were not chargeable 
with idolatry : for they intended to worship " the Great 
Power of God," # and were only mistaken as to the fact 
whether Simon were he. Nay, on this principle, I can- 
not see that there would be any thing idolatrous in the 
worship of the Shiloh of those wretched fanatics, whom 
our own age and country have produced. 

The Truth is that all Idolatry, as well as a large por- 
tion of the rest of human wickedness, necessarily implies 



* Acts, viii. 10. 



APPENDIX. 



35<J 



false opinion ; which, being gross and unreasonable, does 
not therefore excuse, much less destroy, the sinful nature 
of the act. Idolatry always arises, immediately, from 
the blindness of the understanding, in whatever degree 
it may be remotely referable to the corruption of the 
heart: and the best that we can say of the worship in 
question is, that it is a sin of ignorance : which will, we 
doubt not, be regarded with all merciful indulgence by 
Him, who alone can know, and will duly estimate, the 
considerations of every kind, which may extenuate or 
aggravate its guilt. Meanwhile, let it not be forgotten, 
that it has been confessed by Roman Catholics them- 
selves, that if the doctrine of Transubstantiation be 
erroneous, the worship founded on it is idolatrous. 
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester,* the most learned of 
English Papists, speaks of this consequence in much 
stronger terms, than a Protestant would use, and Bel- 
larmine,f the ablest advocate of their cause in Rome 
itself, treats it as a matter of course. 

Your Lordship will pardon me, that following so great 
a leader I have ventured to carry you into an argument 
purely theological. I will now beg leave to say some- 

* Johan. Roff. cont. (Ecolamp. 1. i. c. ii. 

Nulli dubium esse potest, si nihil in Eucharistia prseter panem sit, 
quintota ecclesia jam per xv. annorum centenarios, idololatra fuerit, 
ac proinde quotquot ante nos hoc sacramentum adoraverint, omnes 
ad unum esse damnatos. Nam creaturam panis adoraverunt creatoris 
loco. 

f Bell, de Euch. 1. iv. c. 29. 

Quod ad adorationem attinet, Sacramentarii omnes idololatriam 
appellant ejusmodi adorationem. Neque id mirum videri debet cum 
ipsi non credant Christum reipsaesse praesentem, et panem Eucharis- 
tiae nihil esse, nisi panem ex furno. 



360 



APPENDIX. 



thing on the application of the distinction, which has 
been just examined, to the matter in question. 

The Noble Lord, who introduces it, is so confident 
not only of its soundness, but also of its necessity, that 
he is represented as saying, that " the Declaration can- 
not be subscribed conscientiously without it," That is, 
in other words, when a person declares his belief, " that 
the Sacrifice of the Mass, as now used in the Church 
of Rome, is idolatrous," he means, and can only con- 
scientiously mean, not what the words express, but a 
proposition of a very different import: namely, " I be- 
lieve that the Sacrifice of the Mass, as now used in the 
Church of Rome, would be idolatrous in my case, if I 
were to join in it." To make his Lordship's explana- 
tion of conscientious subscription the more edifying, I 
will beg leave to recite the words, which immediately 
follow, " and I do solemnly in the presence of God pro- 
fess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declara- 
tion, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary 
sense of the words, as they are commonly understood 
by English Protestants, without any evasion, equivoca- 
tion, or mental reservation whatsoever." In very sooth, 
we need not go all the way to Rome, to learn the easiest 
method to get rid of an inconvenient oath. 

But the Noble Lord further remarks on the phrase 
" as now practised in the Church of Rome," being still 
continued, " though the ceremony so denounced may 
have been repeatedly varied, perhaps have been entirely 
changed, in the interval since the Declaration was 
framed." 

A little reflection will, I am confident, convince his 
Lordship of the propriety of introducing and of retaining 



APPENDIX. 



361 



the phrase. Had it been said simply that " the invo- 
cation of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass are idola- 
trous," it might have been objected, that this, on Pro- 
testant principles, is not true of all " Invocation of 
Saints," (such for instance as the mere declamatory 
Invocation by some of the ancients,) nor of the " Sacri- 
fice of the Mass" in every sense of those words : for the 
Mass was a title given to the Sacrament before the doc- 
trine of Transubstantiation was established : and as to 
the term Sacrifice, we ourselves apply it, in a certain 
sense, both to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and 
to other religious services. It was necessary, therefore, 
to limit the condemnation to the practices of the modern 
and corrupted Church of Rome, as contradistinguished 
from the ancient, in order to make the Declaration 
strictly appropriate to its purpose, that of a Test against 
Popery. As to " the eternal Now,"* we may leave it 
to be settled with the Roman Catholics themselves. 
They maintain that " eternal Now," as applicable to all 
their articles of Faith ; and till they abandon (which, 
while they continue Papists, they never can) those prin- 
ciples on which the practices in question are built, no 
change, however entire, of the mere circumstantials or 
ceremonial parts of the service will affect the fair con- 
struction of the Test. 

The Noble Lord is also represented as saying that 
" no reasonable man out of doors, not one, he was con- 
vinced, of their Lordships, would undertake to say that 

* " He remembered a bold expression of one of our poets : ' it 
was one eternal Now.' Now, this e one eternal Now' seemed to be 
the language of the Declaration Oath." — Lord Grenvilles Speech. 



862 



APPENDIX. 



the religion of Fenelon was idolatry ; that Fenelon, (he 
mentioned him merely as a familiar instance out of many,) 
worshipping according to the sincere dictates of his 
conscience, was a man to be shunned and degraded as 
a profane worshipper of idols." 

That Idolatry in its mildest form has some tendency 
to debase the understanding and corrupt the heart, I 
most firmly believe : but that this tendency always takes 
effect is more, I conceive, than any reasonable man 
within or out of doors would venture to affirm. Fene- 
Ion's pure, and guileless, and truly evangelical spirit 
would have done honour to any church or age of 
Christians : many others of his Communion have, doubt- 
less, merited almost equal praise : to every one such, 
while I look up with fervent admiration, and a humble 
and anxious wish that to imitate were as easy as to 
admire, I would say from the bottom of my heart " talis 
cum sis, utinam noster esses !" But, my Lord, the 
question is not, whether it be or be not possible for 
Members of that Communion to be preserved from the 
corrupting influence of some parts of their religious 
worship, — to be, by the Divine Grace, in spite of all the 
errors of their Creed, exemplary for every Christian 
virtue, — but whether two alleged particulars of that 
Creed and worship be idolatrous, or not. To disprove 
the charge by quoting the names of Fenelon or Pascal, 
is just as reasonable, as if the Athenians had attempted 
to silence Paul's preaching by a panegyric on Socrates 
or Aristides. 

I may also venture to remark on the palpably exagge- 
rated strain in which his Lordship is pleased to indulge. 
Does the declaration, that two of the practices of the 



APPENDIX. 



Church of Rome are idolatrous, imply that all who join 
in them are to be shunned and degraded as profane 
worshippers of idols? Again, is his Lordship so bad a 
logician, (I am sure he is not,) or does he presume that 
all to whom his words shall reach (and the words of 
such a man cannot but reach far) are so utterly strangers 
to the laws of reasoning, as to accept for a legitimate 
conclusion, that because Fenelon's religious worship 
was in two particulars idolatrous, therefore the religion 
of Fenelon was idolatry ? We have been taught in the 
schools, that the fallacy " a dicto secundum quid ad 
dictum simpliciter" is one of the rudest and clumsiest 
weapons in the Sophist's armoury. Even the skill and 
the vigour, with which the Noble Lord is able to w 7 ield 
this and every other intellectual weapon, will hardly 
secure him from defeat, when he ventures into the field 
with a blade of no better proof. 

But in addition to argument, authority also is brought 
to sustain the view taken by your Lordship and your 
Noble Friend of the matters in question. The opinions 
not only of Sir William Temple, and other respectable 
laymen, (whose judgment on the expediency of a Test 
would be worthy of regard,) but also of Divines of 
the Church of England have been quoted against the 
truth of the Declaration. Archbishop Sheldon has 
been alleged by the Noble Lord with some high com- 
mendations of the greatness of his authority. 

Of that Prelate it is far from my wish to speak with 
disrespect; he had many splendid qualities, which, in 
spite of no light deductions from his episcopal character, 
will always make his memory honoured, particularly by 
the Members of that University which he enriched 



o64 APPENDIX. 

with an edifice worthy of the high solemnities performed 
within it. But less than this I cannot say, that it would 
be difficult to name a man in the whole series of English 
Primates since the Reformation, whose opinion ought 
to carry with it less weight. I appeal to the character 
given of him by Burnet : # it will thence be seen, (mak- 
ing, as perhaps we ought to make, large allowances for 
the prejudices of the Historian,) to how little attention 
Sheldon's judgment is entitled in a question of theology. 
But, after all, what proof is there, that Sheldon held 
the opinion ascribed to him? I know not the grounds 
on which the Noble Lord spoke. But the only scrap 
of evidence, which I can find, is in Burnet's account of an 
interview to which he was himself invited by James II. 
when Duke of York, evidently with the purpose of 
gaining him to his party. " Stillingfleet had a little 
before this time, (A. D. 1673,) published a book of the 
Idolatry and Fanaticism of the Church of Rome. Upon 
that the Duke said he asked Sheldon, if it was the doc- 
trine of the Church of England, that Roman Catholics 
are Idolaters : who answered him, it was not ; but that 
young men of parts would be popular : and such a 
charge was the way to it."f 

Now upon this I might remark, that it by no mean& 
follows, that Sheldon, if his words were advisedly spoken 
and correctly repeated, did not hold the opinion, that 
the practices in question are idolatrous : for all that he 
says amounts to this, that the Church of England does 
not require her members to hold it : and, in truth, 
such is the exemplary moderation of that Church, that, 



* Burnet's Hist. v. i. p. 177. f The same, p. 346. 



APPENDIX. 



365 



satisfied with restraining persons from falling into the 
errors of Rome, she no where explicitly makes that 
requisition, though the Idolatry in the Sacrifice of the 
Mass follows as a consequence from her doctrine. But 
I wave this consideration; and will rather contend, 
that the evidence itself is too slight to be worthy of 
attention. That Burnet reported honestly, I have no 
doubt; that James did so, in a manner which touched 
so closely his prejudices and his feelings, is more than 
I am prepared to say; least of all, can I admit, that the 
real words of a consummate Politician, in answer to 
such a question from the Heir presumptive to the 
Throne, himself an avowed Papist, have come down to 
us accurately attested through this hearsay of a hear- 
say. 

But it has been said, that " Burnet # himself doubted 
the propriety of applying the term idolatrous to doc- 
trines of the Church of Rome." If he did, he must 
have satisfied himself, that his doubts were unfounded ; 
for he repeatedly took the Test, and he was not a man 
who would proceed to so solemn an act lightly and in- 
sincerely. 

Again, Burnet has been quoted by your Lordship, 
as mentioning that at the framing of the Declaration 
" the Bishop of Ely (Gunning) objected to it, and con- 
tended that the practice of the Church of Rome, in the 
administration of the Eucharist, could not be called 
idolatrous." It is very true that Burnet says so: but I 
am quite sure your Lordship trusted to some other per- 

* This is so contrary to the known opinions of Burnet, that I ap- 
prehend there must be some mistake in the Report of this part of the 
Speech. 



APPENDIX. 



son for the accuracy of the statement. Your noble mind 
would, I am confident, have disdained to strengthen 
your cause by a partial quotation. You will rather be 
glad to be set right ; and to be informed, that in the 
very same place where Burnet says what you have 
quoted, he adds, tho' " Gunning had said that he 
could not take that test with a good conscience, yet as 
soon as the Bill was past, he took it in the crowd 
with the rest."* This Bishop of Ely, therefore, 
was of a contrary opinion to what your Lordship 
supposes ; unless you think that language used in the 
heat of debate is to be taken as a stronger testimony of 
the Bishop's sentiments, than his deliberate declaration 
upon oath. If his character justified such a suspicion, 
it would not be of much moment what he said or 
thought. Evelyn, however, who knew him well, had a 
better opinion of him: he uniformly speaks of him in 
the highest terms, and, with reference to our present 
subject, he gives us the following anecdote: — " 1678, 
Nov. 15, I went with S r W m Godolphin a Member of 
the Commons House to y e Bp of Ely to be resolv'd 
whether masses were idolatry as the Test expressed it, 
w ch was so worded that several good Protestants scru- 
pl'd, and S r \V m , tho' a learned man and excellent 
divine himself, had some doubts about it. The Bishop's 
opinion was that he might take it, tho' he wish'd it had 
been otherwise worded in the Test."f — In this wish 
many would concur : I frankly confess myself to be of 
the number. 

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 436. 

t Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 475. 



APPENDIX. 



367 



Such are the alleged authorities against the truth of 
the doctrines affirmed in the Test: After a minute, and 
I fear tedious, examination they are found, if I mistake 
not, to strengthen the cause which they were brought 
to overthrow. 

And here I should conclude, but that there yet re- 
mains one part of your Lordship's Speech, to which 
even the length of the observations I have already made 
must not deter me from animadverting. It is one that 
affects the honour of the Church, of which I am a Mi- 
nister, more immediately than any thing which has pre- 
ceded. 

Your Lordship, in allusion to the acknowledged 
tenet of the Roman Church, that there is no Salvation 
out of its pale, is represented as having " appealed to 
the Right Reverend Prelates whom you saw before you, 
whether the 18th Article of the Church of England, or 
that part of the Liturgy which it had been the well 
known wish of our pious Sovereign to see withdrawn, 
are congenial to the pure Spirit of Christianity ■." 

It does not appear, from the reports of the debate, 
that any of those Reverend Prelates thought it neces- 
sary to answer this appeal. If they did not, it was 
doubtless because they were convinced that the answer 
to it either was familiar to the Noble Auditory, whom 
your Lordship was addressing, or involved subjects ill 
suited to the agitation of a debate. As, however, your 
Speech has gone forth into the world, where it attracts 
the attention of those who are not equally prepared to 
meet it, I trust that, having taken upon me to remark 



APPENDIX. 



on other particulars, I shall not be deemed presumptu- 
ous, if I add a few words on this point likewise. 

The part of our Liturgy to which your Lordship re- 
fers is, I conclude, the Athanasian Creed. If the King 
ever entertained the wish supposed, (I know not that 
he did,) it is deeply to be lamented that a Prince, whose 
piety and zeal in the cause of true religion were the 
most distinguished part of his eminently virtuous cha- 
racter (we have now the melancholy privilege of ex- 
pressing our sense of his rare excellence, without in- 
curring the suspicion of flattery) should in the warmth 
of his charity have been induced to sanction, what it 
can scarcely be doubted that his judgment, exercised 
deliberately, would have led him to disapprove. But 
let the casual, or the deliberate, expression of our So- 
vereign's wish be vaunted to the utmost, by those who 
are not in general inclined to defer largely to his opi- 
nions, — and let the liberality of the age brand, as it 
may, the bigoted avowal, — I scruple not to profess my 
firm conviction, that the Creed in question is not only 
true in its doctrine, but most highly serviceable in its 
use. 

The object of the Creed is to proclaim belief in those 
great and distinguishing doctrines of our religion, the 
Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, and the Incarna- 
tion of the blessed Son; doctrines which they who 
hold them cannot but esteem of essential importance, 
for on them depends the honour which is due to our 
Redeemer and our Sanctifier. It is true, that a sim- 
pler profession of Faith sufficed for the infant Church; 
that before the Divinity of the second and third Per- 
sons (implied in the Apostles' Creed) was assailed by 



APPENDIX. 



369 



heretics, it was not deemed necessary to depart from the 
simple words of Scripture. But when the words of 
Scripture were used in a sense, which depraved its 
meaning, and dishonoured the object of Christian wor- 
ship, it became necessary to guard the true faith by an 
exposition, which the subtlety of the adversary could 
not pervert. The Creed in question effects this pur- 
pose: it both states plainly what Scripture teaches of 
each of the Divine Persons, and also introduces dis- 
tinctions, which prevent the unwary from being misled 
by those who, under the words of Scripture, mantain 
opinions inconsistent with its highest truths. But these 
distinctions need not be regarded by any who hold the 
main doctrine. 

The condemning or cautionary clauses (call them 
which you will,) apply to the Catholic Faith generally, 
and to the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation 
in particular : and he who taxes them as uncharitable* 
would do well to remember, that as they say not less, so 
neither do they say more, than our Lord himself pro™ 
nounced of every one " that believeth not." The only 
question which can be raised is about the truth of the 
doctrine; for they who admit it to be true, must see 
that it is fundamental ; and if fundamental, that the de- 
nial of it must come within that denunciation, which 
He, who is emphatically styled " Love," forbore not to 
make. Do we think that the expression of our Lord, 
general and unlimited as it is, does yet admit of all 
merciful allowance for non-belief arising from invincible 
or excusable ignorance, and for misbelief arising from 
mere error, from prejudice, from education, from unhappy 
circumstances of any kind? So also we understand the 

B B 



370 



APPENDIX. 



Creed. It applies the same solemn sanction of our 
Lord to the truths which He commissioned his Apostles 
to teach ; and leaves it unlimited as He left it. The 
presumption would have been not in adopting his lan- 
guage, but in qualifying what He has not authorized 
man to qualify : the want of charity, not in announcing 
the danger to which infidelity is exposed, but in dis- 
sembling or extenuating it. If the Creed be not ex- 
pressed, as it might, and probably would be expressed, 
if it were drawn up anew, it is sufficient to say, that the 
advantage of adhering to an ancient and recognized 
formulary more than counterbalances any prospect of 
amended diction. And so much of the Athanasian 
Creed. 

What your Lordship says of the 18th Article is only 
a fresh proof, how little consideration even persons of 
honourable and liberal minds sometimes think it neces- 
sary to use, before they condemn the tenets of a Church 
to which they profess to belong. If your Lordship 
had not trusted to the representation of others, but had 
read the Article yourself, I think that you would not 
have uttered your hasty censure: if you had read it at- 
tentively, I am sure that you would not. 

The Article anathematizes those " that presume to say 
that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which 
he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life 
according to that law, and the light of nature. For 
Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of 
Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved." It con- 
demns, we see, the impiety of holding that men may be 
saved by virtue of any false religion: but it does not 
deny that God, for Christ's sake, will extend his saving 



APPENDIX. 



371 



mercy to innumerable multitudes of all nations and coun- 
tries, even of those who never heard of the name of 
Christ: it only affirms, that whosoever are saved, are 
saved by virtue of that holy name, whether they have 
heard of it or not. If your Lordship really thinks that 
this is not " congenial to the pure Spirit of Christianity," 
I dare not forbear telling you (the words, my Lord, are 
used in no invidious sense) that you have yet to learn 
what " the pure Spirit of Christianity" is. 

I will not trespass longer on your Lordship's atten- 
tion. I should not indeed have trespassed at all, had 
I not thought it necessary, that some Member of the 
Church of England should protest publicly against 
opinions as injurious to the honour of that Church, as 
they are destitute of all solid foundation. If any thing 
that I have said shall induce you to inquire more mi- 
nutely into the tenets, which we maintain, my labour 
will not be lost. From a mind ingenuous as your Lord- 
ship's is, inquiry is all that we need to ask. The result, 
I confidently predict, could not be unfavourable : it 
would enable us to number among the friends of the 
Church, a nobleman whose virtues would do honour, as 
his abilities would add strength, to any cause he may 
be persuaded to support. 

I am, my Lord, 

With great respect, 
Your Lordship's most humble Servant, 

A Clergyman of the Dlocese of 
Durham. 

Durham, 30tk June, 1819. 



INTfcJ) UV C. UOWORTli, IiEl.L YARD, 
TEMPLE 3. A i'.. 



A 



SUPPLEMENTAL LETTER 

TO 

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 

ON 

SOME PARTS OF THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BY THE IRISH 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC BISHOPS, 

PARTICULARLY BY DR. DOYLE, 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEES OF THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, 
IN THE SESSION OF 1825: 

AND 

ALSO ON CERTAIN PASSAGES IN DR. DOYLE'S 
" ESSAY ON THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS." 



BY 

REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D.D. 

RECTOR OF STANHOPE. 



LONDON : 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 

MDCCCXXVI, 



London: 

IUNT£D BY C. RO WORTH, BEJLL YARD, 
TJS-MI'LE BAR, 



TO 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND 

WILLIAM, 
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. 

My Lord, 

In seeking for this small work 
the protection of your Lordship's name, 
I am influenced not merely by my high 
respect for your distinguished character, 
nor even by my grateful sense of the 
kindness with which you have long ho- 
noured me. 

My former volume was inscribed to my 
revered Patron, the Bishop of Durham ; 
and I cannot soon forget that the last 
commission with which he will ever charge 



( iv ) 

me, was to convey to your Lordship his 
heartfelt thanks for the affection which 
you had borne to him. I feel it, therefore, 
now, a source of melancholy pleasure, as 
well as the gratification of an honest pride, 
to bring together in the dedication of these 
volumes the names of two such Men, so 
connected by mutual affection, by kindred 
virtues, and by common zeal in the defence 
of that great cause, which my feeble 
efforts are designed to serve. 

I am, 

My Lord, 
With sincere and great respect, 
Your Lordship's obliged 

And most faithful Servant, 

Henry Phillpotts. 

London, 
March 17th, 1826, 



SUPPLEMENTAL LETTER 

TO 

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 



Sir, 

Your new volume, entitled "Vindica- 
" tion of the Book of the Roman-Catholic 
" Church," &c, has just reached me, and, as 
far as my work is concerned, I beg leave to 
congratulate you on the very ingenious mode 
which you have adopted, to dispose of the 
charges adduced by me against you. You 
give* the title of my book, and are then pleased 
to say what follows : — " As fair specimens of 
" the spirit and style of this publication, and 
" of the worth of the charges brought in it 
" against me, I select from it, — I. The author's 
" criminations of my statement of the Roman- 
" Catholic doctrine of 'purgatory ; II. His crimi- 

* Pagexxxix. 
C C 



378 



MR. BUTLER'S ANSWER. 



" nations of my statement of the Roman-Catho- 
" lie Doctrine of Sacramental Absolution ; and 
" III. His criminations of the expression 
" Dominium altum, used by me in a former 
" work, to describe the Pope's spiritual au- 
" thority in extraordinary cases of a spiritual 
" nature, and exerted by Pius VII. in his 
" transactions with Napoleon." 

Beginning with the first, I shall copy from the 
" Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, the 
" passage respecting Purgatory reprehended by 
Dr. Phillpotts ;" (this is done faithfully) "and 
" then copy his remarks upon it, and his citation 
" from Calvin, of the passage in that author, 
*f to which I referred ;" the latter part of this 
promise is also faithfully performed. But as to 
the former, will my readers believe it possible, 
that after having thus, twice within half a page, 
declared that you " will select my criminations 
" of your statement of the Roman-Catholic 
" doctrine of Purgatory," and " will copy my 
"remarks" upon them; (it was well you did 
not, for they extend through five and forty 
pages ;) you have the confidence to affect to 
redeem your pledge, by copying one of the 
most unimportant matters, occupying less than 
a fifteenth part of the whole ; one single in- 
stance of your mistatement, upon which you 



NOTE ON DR. LINGARD S ANSWER. 



379 



fancy that you can contrive to raise a little 
fresh cloud of sophistication ? Really, I am 
ashamed of my adversary, and will have 
nothing more to say to you. Talk, if you will, 
about Calvin, and prove again and again, if you 
will, the whole of what I have already proved 
against you respecting him — you shall have the 
field to yourself. 

Your lively friend Dr. Lingard, who offers 
" you his congratulations" (I doubt not with 
his usual sincerity,) " on the eminent services 
" ivhich by your works you have rendered to 
" the Catholic cause" shall be treated by me 
with almost as little ceremony. He has 
laboured effectually to prove, that no satis- 
factory answer can be given to my charge 
against him ; thanking him, therefore, for his 
assistance, I consign the few observations I 
shall make on him to a note below.* 

* I begin with stating bow his case stands in points which 
admit not of any more discussion. 

1. He endeavoured to throw a general air of discredit over 
the second Nicene Council, except as far as relates to the doc- 
trinal decree passed in the last session. — In answer to this, I 
have shown by the strongest testimony, that the Council is one 
of the very highest authority. To this there is no reply. 

2. He said particularly, " the Acts of this Council are of no 
" authority in the Catholic church." — I have challenged him 

cc2 



380 



NOTE ON DR. LINGARD S ANSWER. 



In my present address to you, there will be 
nothing that applies particularly to yourself, or 

to produce evidence of this assertion, and have myself produced 
evidence of the contrary, the Catechism of the Council of 
Trent, Cardinal Bellarmine, and Pope Adrian I. In his Let- 
ter to Mr. Butler, p. 222, he says, " Catholics admit the Se- 
" cond Nicene Council, and subscribe to its decree respect- 
" ing the faith of the church ; they refer to its acts as an his- 
" torical document, but not as doctrinal authority binding their 
« belief," 

Now, of the acts, almost every one contain doctrinal decrees, 
affirmed with an Anathema, and therefore binding on the belief 
of the Roman Catholic Church. At the end of the second is 
given, nominatim, the assent of the several Fathers to the doc- 
trine contained in the Synodical Epistle of Adrian, with an 
anathema against those who oppose it. At the end of the fourth, 
as well as of the last, there is an actual subscription by the 
legates from Rome, and of all the other members of the Council. 
They are, therefore, complete doctrinal authority ; and Dr. 
Lingard's subterfuge will not serve him. He has stated the 
thing which is not, and when his mistatement is proved against 
him, he has neither the manliness nor the honesty to admit it. 

3. He insinuated (and, I repeat, that an honest man ought 
to feel, that to insinuate what is untrue, is as had as to affirm 
it,) he insinuated, that only " the doctrinal decree passed in 
" the last session," not the acts of this Council at its other ses- 
sions, " was approved by the Popes." — In contradiction to this, 
I have adduced the express approbation given to all the acts, 
nay, a detailed answer to all objections against them, by the 
very Pope, Adrian I., who, by his legates, presided at the 
Council. Dr. Lingard dares not hazard a syllable in his own 



NOTE ON DR. LINGARDS ANSWER. 381 



to any of your learned labours ; but I shall take 
the liberty of using this form of address for the 

defence on this point. Here, then, we again have confitentem 
reum. 

4. He has said that " In the Acts and Canons of this Council 
much is contained, to which the Roman Church would never im- 
part its sanction, qua apud nos nec habentur, nec admittuntur, 
says Anastasius Bibliothecarius, a Roman writerof the same age.'' 

It has been proved, and is admitted, that these, latter words 
are an inaccurate citation, that they ought to stand in the 
genuine text as follows, quae penes nos interpretata nec habentur 
nec admittuntur and that they refer to certain particular 
things there specified. 

Dr. Lingard says, that he does not know, whether the 
omission of the word " interpretata" arose from the negligence 
of the printer, or from his own inadvertence i that it evidently 
was not intentional, because the omission could not strengthen 
his cause. 

Let our readers look at the whole sentence, as produced by 
me (p. 1 06.) in its genuine state, and judge for themselves. Does 
it not specify certain matters in no way concerned in the argu- 
ment between us, which, therefore, even if Dr. Lingard could 
truly say that they were rejected by the Church of Rome, would 
have left my citations from the council wholly unaffected ? 
Why then did he not cite the words of Anastasius in such a 
manner as to shew their specific application ? What honest 
reason can be assigned for the omission ? 

But the truth is, that the words of Anastasius do not, when 
properly understood, imply that any part of the proceedings of 
the Council were rejected by the Church of Rome. To make 
it appear that they do, Dr. Lingard affirms, that both the 
larger Collection of Apostolic Canons, and that of the Council of 
Trullo (the quinisextian) were not only " quoted with applause., 



382 MISTATEMENT BY IRISH R. C. PRELATES. 



more convenient arrangement of the matter I 
have to treat. 

That matter is not unimportant : for it 
relates to the endeavours recently made by the 
prelates of your communion in Ireland, particu- 
larly by Dr. Doyle, to give such a view of the 
doctrine and practices of your church, as is, in 
my honest opinion, utterly fallacious. I shall 
avail myself, therefore, of the publicity given to 
their evidence before the two Houses of Parlia- 
ment, to examine a few of the particulars of 
that evidence with freedom, but, I trust, with 
candour. 

" but approved and confirmed by the Second Nicene Council in 
" the strongest terms." 

I defy Dr. Lingard to produce the passage on which he 
founds these assertions. Will he cite the first canon of the 
last-named council 1 That only orders generally the obser- 
vance of the Apostolic Canons, and those of the six general 
Councils, in which number that of Trullo was not, though the 
Greeks call its canons those of the sixth council. (Accordingly 
Bellarmine considers only one of the canons of Trullo, the 
eighty-second, which had been cited in the second and fourth 
acts, as admitted by the second Xicene Council.) And it is 
the object of Anastasius to show that, whatever is admitted by 
this- General Council being of course admitted by the Church of 
Rome, none of the apostolic or quinisextian canons, contrary 
to former canons, &c. are therein admitted. 

Here, then, I leave "Dr. Lingard," re-affirming my former 
charge against " his unfaithfulness in quotation" with in- 
creased evidence. 



EVIDENCE RESPECTING PRAYER TO SAINTS. 383 

Taking the matters in the order in which they 
occur in my former letters to you, I begin with 
the evidence respecting 

« PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN MARY AND TO SAINTS." 

Dr. Kelly, Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Tuam, tells the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons, that " Roman Catholics believe, that God 
" maybe inclined to hear requests made in our 
" behalf by them, and to grant us many favours 
" through their intercession : that invocation 
" of saints, for this purpose, is no more injurious 
" to Christ, our mediator, than it is for one 
t( Christian to beg the prayers of another in this 
" world, as St. Paul did." " When they m- 
" voke the Virgin Mary, they do not consider 
' ' that she can grant favours of herself, but 
" that she may, through her powerful interces- 
" sion, obtain favours from God for us.' 5 p. 240. 
On a subsequent day, a Latin prayer to the 
Virgin is adduced, of which the following is an 
extract ; " te deprecor ut mea inopia sublevetur, 
" ut per te purgationem peccatorum obtineam ;" 
and Dr. Kelly says, that " the use of the word 
"per constitutes it a prayer of intercession; 
" that it is through her intercession only, that 
" all those favours are sought to be obtained by 
44 this prayer." — p. 264. 



384 



PRAYERS NOW ADDRESSED 



Now this, at least, is making the distinction 
to be very finely drawn, and suspends the whole 
weight of the honour due to God on a very 
slender thread : to any one who may chance to 
use this prayer without understanding this 
solitary preposition in Dr. Kelly's sense, (which 
is by no means its only, or its most obvious 
sense,) it is then an act of the utmost impiety, 
it is a transfer to a mere creature of the honour 
due, by the word of God, to God only. 

But let this pass — let it be granted for a 
moment, and only for a moment, that the Virgin 
is always addressed merely as a mediatrix of 
intercession — What is the value which the 
Church of Rome assigns to her intercession ? 
Is it held to be so powerful, as to ensure abso- 
lute acceptance of any prayer addressed for us 
by her, to her blessed son ? If it be, the result 
is practically the same as if she were able to 
grant every thing by her own mere power : and 
that it is, will require very little investigation 
to prove. 

I have shown, in my second letter to you, the 
blasphemous excess of honour, the representa- 
tion of her more than human dignity, given in 
your breviary. I will now adduce a prayer to 
to her, set forth so lately as in the year 1822, 
by Pius VII. and by his special command ap~ 



TO THE VIRGIN MARY. 



385 



pointed (with one or two others of the same 
sort) to be distributed gratis, for the use of the 
people of Rome, with an Indulgence of 300 
days for those who use them once, and a 
plenary Indulgence for those who use them 
every day for an entire month.* 

" I adore thee, most Holy Virgin, Queen of 
" Heavens, Lady and Patroness of the Uni- 
<k verse, as daughter of the Eternal Father, 
" Mother of his most beloved Son, and most 
" gracious spouse of the Holy Ghost ; and, pros- 
" trate at the feet of thy great Majesty, with all 
" possible humility, I supplicate thee, by that 
" divine love, with which thou wast filled on thy 
" assumption into Heaven, to grant me so much 
" grace and mercy, as to receive me under thy 
" most secure and faithful protection, and to 
" number me among thy most happy and joyful 
" servants, whom thou bearest engraven in thy 
" virgin bosom. Vouchsafe, O my most merciful 
" Mother and Lady, to receive this miserable 
" and impure heart ; take my memory, my 
" will, and all my other faculties and senses, 
" both internal and external ; accept my eyes, 

* Orazione da recitarsi da chi desidera acquistarsi la prote- 
zione della santissima Vergine e di ottinere qualche grazia 
purche sia espediente per 1' eterna salute. In Roma. 1822. 
Pel Bourlie. La presente orazione si dispensa gratis. 



386 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 

" my ears, my mouth, my hands, my feet ; rule 
" them and make them conformed to the good 
" pleasure of thy sweet Son (flgliuolo), intending 
" at every movement of them to give to thee 
" infinite glory," &c. 

I will next present you with some specimens 
of prayers to her, which are now in daily use 
among the Roman Catholics of this very land. 
They are selected* from " The Devotion of the 
" Sacred Heart of Jesus, including the Devotion 
" to the Sacred Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
" with an appendix," (by R, R. John Milner, 
Bishop of Castabala, Vicar Apostolic,) " and 
" the Indult of his holiness, Pius VII. in favour 
" of it, for the use of the midland district." 12th 
edition. Keating and Brown, 1821. 

THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF MARY. 

SECTION I. 

" As the adorable heart of Jesus was formed 
" in the chaste womb of the blessed Virgin, 

* Since this selection was made, I find that I have been in 
part anticipated by Mr. Blanco White, in the Appendix to his 
" Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism." Let 
me avail myself of this opportunity to bear my humble testi- 
mony to the worth of that inestimable volume, a volume which 
I venture to characterize as the most valuable contribution 
which the Church of England has received in its controversy 
with the Church of Rome, for more than a century. 



OF MARY. 



387 



and of her blood and substance, so we can- 
not, in a more proper and agreeable manner, 
show our devotion to the sacred heart of the 
Son, than by dedicating some part of the 
said devotion to the ever pure heart of the 
Mother. For you have two hearts here 
united in the most strict alliance and tender 
conformity of sentiments, so that it is not in 
nature to please the one without making 
yourself agreeable to the other, and accept- 
able to both. Go then, devout client, go to 
the heart of Jesus, but let your way be 
through the heart of Mary. The sword of 
grief which pierced her soul opens you a 
passage : enter by the wound love has made ; 
advance to the heart of Jesus, and rest there 
even to death itself. Presume not to separate 
and divide two objects so intimately one or 
united together, but ask redress in all your 
exigences from the heart of Jesus, and ask 
this redress through the heart of Mary. 
" This form and method of worship is the doc- 
trine and the very spirit of God's church; it 
is what she teaches us in the unanimous voice 
and practice of the faithful, who will by no 
' means that Jesus and Mary should be separated 
from each other in our prayers, praises, and 
' affections" 



388 EXTRAVAGANT PRAYERS TO MARY 



" Come, then, hardened and inveterate sin- 
" ner, how great soever your crimes may be ! 
" come and behold ! Mary stretches out her 
" hand, opens her breast to receive you. 
" Though insensible to the great concerns of 
" your salvation, though, unfortunately, 'proof 
" against the most engaging invitations and inspi- 
" rations of the Holy Ghost, fling yourself at the 
<e feet of this powerful Advocate. Her throne, 
" though so exalted, has nothing forbidding, 
" nothing dreadful ; her heart is all love, all ten- 
" derness. If you have the least remains of con- 
(( jidence and reliance on her protection, doubt not 
" she will carry you through her own most blessed 
" heart in the most speedy and most favourable 
U manner, to the truly merciful and most sacred 
C( heart of her Son Jesus." — p. 198 — 201. 

AN ANGELICAL EXERCISE. 

" I reverence you, O sacred Virgin Mary, 
" the Holy Ark of the Covenant ; and together 
" with all the good thoughts of all good men 
" upon earth, and all the blessed spirits in hea- 
" ven, do bless and praise you infinitely , for that 
" you are the great Mediatrix between God and 
" man, obtaining for sinners all they can ask and 
" demand of the blessed Trinity. Hail Mary." — 
p. 293. 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 



389 



"THE THIRTY DAYS PRAYER." 

It is particularly recommended as a proper devotion 
for every day in Lent, and all the Fridays throughout the year. 

" Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of 
« Virgins," &c. " Thou art the Mother of Mercy, 
" the sweet consolatrix, and only refuge of the 
" needy and the orphans, of the desolate and 
" the afflicted ; cast, therefore, an eye of pity on 
<f a miserable forlorn child of Eve, and hear 
" my prayer ; whither can I fly for more se- 
" cure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord 
" and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the 
" wings of thy maternal protection ?" " And, 
" as I am persuaded, my divine Saviour cloth ho- 
" nour thee as his beloved Mother, to whom he 
" can refuse nothing, so let me speedily 
" experience the efficacy of thy powerful inter- 
" cession, according to the tenderness of thy 
" maternal affection, and his filial loving heart, 
" who mercifully granteth the requests and 
" complieth with the desires of those that love 
" and fear him."— p. 305—311. 

So much for prayers to her as a Mediatrix of 
intercession ; let us now proceed to some of 
higher pretension. 



390 EXTRAVAGANT PRAYERS TO VIRGIN MARY 



" A practice made use of by St. Mechtildis." 
—p. 212, 213. 

" O Holy Mary, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" God the Father, by his omnipotence, has made 
fc ' thee most powerful, so assist us at the hour of our 
" death, by defending us against all power that is 
" contrary to thine. Hail Mary. 

" O Holy Mary, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" God the Son has endowed thee with so much 
" knowledge and charity, that it enlightens 
" all heaven, so in the hour of our death illustrate 
" and strengthen our souls with the knowledge of 
4t the true faith, that they be not perverted by 
" error or pernicious ignorance. Hail Mary. 

" O Holy Virgin, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" the Holy Ghost has plentifully poured forth 
" into thee the love of God, so instil* into us at 
" the hour of death, the sweetness of divine love, 

* The following is an extract from a prayer to St. Aloysius. — 
p. 348, 349. 

" Angelical youth, Aloysius, by the particular appointment of 
" God's Vicar upon Earth, Patron of those who apply to stu- 
" dies," " For the love thou hadst for Christ crucified and 
te his most blessed Mother, receive me as thy client and obedient 
ee servant j aid and assist me in the pursuit of virtue and learning ; 
<e nourish and increase in me a purity of mind and manners j 
ee turn off the snares laid against my chastity ; ward and defend 
<{ me against the dangers of the world , inspire my heart with a 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 391 

" that all bitterness at that time may become 
" acceptable and pleasant to us. Hail Mary. 

" Our blessed Lady herself taught St. Mechtil- 
" dis the abovemeyitioned triple salutation, promis- 
" ing her certain assistance for it at the hour of 
" her death"— y. 212,213. 

AN ANGELICAL EXERCISE. 

" I am an amiable and loving Mother, Mater 
' ' amabilis, says the glorious Virgin Mary, Mo- 
" ther of God. Will you, my dear child, do 
" something this day in my honour? For you 
" must know, that I leave nothing, though of never 
" so little value, unrecompensed, ivhich is done in 
" my honour ; as Troilus Savelli, a young Baron 
" of Rome, though a great and enormous sin- 
" ner, can well testify, who, at the end of his 
" life, being beheaded for his wickedness, ob- 
" tained by my favour so perfect contrition and 
" remission of his sins, that he died like a Saint, 
(< for having never failed to say once a day on his 
" bare knees one Ave Maria in my honour. I as- 
" sure you, in the sincerity of a Mother, that at 

(l true and filial confidence in the ever blessed Virgin Mary, the 
" Mother of good counsels ; govern and direct me in my choice 
" of a state of life, and let the grace of God be my perpetual 
e< defence against all mortal sin ; that assisted by thy patronage 
" and aided by the Grace of God, &c." 



I 



392 BLASPHEMOUS PRAYERS TO VIRGIN MARY 

" the hour of your death, being forsaken of all 
" your friends, you will wish to have performed 
" all things possible to obtain my grace and fa- 
" vour. Hail Mary/— p. 286. 

In order that my readers may know what it 
costs to die like a saint in this most accommo- 
dating Church, I will transcribe an Ave Maria. 
"Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: 
" benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus 
" fructus ventris tui, Jesus." This is all. 

Again : "lam the Protectress of my Servants, 
" says the glorious Mother of God. Give me your 
" heart, my dear child, and if i t be as hard as a 
"flint, I will make it as soft as wax ; and if it be 
(i more foul and loathsome than dirt, I will render 
" it more clear and beautiful than crystal. My 
" blessed servant Ignatius gave me one day power 
" over his heart, and I did render it so chaste 
e< and strong, that he never after felt any motion 
" of the flesh all his life. Give me your heart, 
" my child, and tell me, in the sincerity of a 
" true son, how much you love me, your chaste 
" Mother ? Hail Mary." 

" O my dear Mother ! I love you more than 
" my tongue can express, and more than my 
" very soul can conceive. And I reverence you, 
" O sacred Virgin Mary! and together with the 
" Holy Trinity bless and praise you infinitely, for 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 



393 



" that you are worthy of so many praises, as 
" none can, no not yourself, conceive. I praise 
" and magnify you a thousand thousand times, 
" and ten thousand times I bless that sacred 
" womb of your's which bore the Son of the 
" Eternal Father. Hail Mary."— p. 294. 

Among " various salutations and benedictions 
<f to the honour of our blessed Lady," the 9th 
is as follows : — 

" Hail, Mary, Lady and Mistress oe the 
" World, to whom all power has been given 
" both in Heaven and Earth." — p. 206. 

I will not go on ; I will not wound the feel- 
ings of my Protestant readers, by producing 
any more of this disgusting, this polluting trash. 
But I call on Dr. Kelly, or any other apologist 
of your Church; above all, on Dr. Milner, by 
whose authority these abominations profess to 
be set forth for the edification of the " Faithful 
" of the Midland District," to produce, if he can, 
some lurking preposition, as in the former in- 
stance, some potent particle, which may rescue 
those who use them, and especially the Aposto- 
lic Vicar, who has sanctioned the use of them, 
from the charge of direct and most atrocious 
blasphemy. 

Yet this is the religion, which we are gravely 
told by senators, statesmen, and reviewers, is 

d d 



394 DR. DOYLE CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING 



similar to that pure faith which is taught in our 
own Evangelic Church. Dr. Doyle has even 
the confidence to say to us, " your belief on 
" this very subject, on the mediation of Saints , 
" is substantially the same as ours ; your prac- 
" tice should be the same; your language is 
"precisely the same." "Hear it," says he,* 
*' from the tongue of one of your most learned 
<f bishops. Montague, Antid. p. 20, says; 6 1 
" ' do not deny but the Saints are mediators, 
" ' as they are called, of prayer and interces- 
" ' sion ; they interpose with God by their 
" 1 supplications, and mediate by their prayers.' " 

To this assertion of Dr. Doyle I give the 
most direct and indignant contradiction. Bishop 
Montagu's words are shamefully garbled by 
him ; two scraps of sentences, which occur at a 
distance from each other, are torn from their 
respective contexts, and pinned together, to 
produce the appearance of the author's saying 
the very contrary to what his whole treatise 
expressly teaches. 

In a former part of this treatise, f Montagu 
had expressly condemned not only the practice 
of your Church, in respect to the worship of 
creatures, calling it, in plain terms, impious, 

* Letters of J. K. L. p. 279. 
f Ricardi Montacutii Antidiatribae, 1625, pp. 13, 19, 20, 21. 



A PASSAGE IN BISHOP MOUNTAGU. 395 

but also its doctrine. In the passage which Dr. 
Doyle makes the subject of his artifice, he 
says, that " to call the Saints mediators and 
" intercessors is what he never can admit, 
" except in a modified and indirect sense. I 
" would not deny," says he, " that they are 
" mediators of prayer and intercession, as you 
" call it ; but then it is by praying in a body 
" for the whole body of the Church, (universim 
" universos). Belonging as they do to that 
" community, they are solicitous for, and strive 
" to promote, its welfare : and they remember 
" well that the Church on earth is yet militant. 
"But shew me, if you can, that they are mediators 
"for me, or you, or any other individual who is 
" unknown to them'' It is in the sense which 
has been here explained, that he afterwards says 
" they interpose with God by their supplica- 
" tions, and mediate by their prayers." Then 
in the very next page he adds, " I will now 
" declare to you what my opinion is in this 
" question, and I entreat you to examine what 
" I shall advance by the judgment of the ancient 
" fathers, and the practice of the primitive 
" Church. The Saints, as we call them, being 
" loosed from the bands of their bodily prison, 
" enjoy the beatific Vision of God in the highest 

D D 2 



396 DR. DOYLE CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING 

" Heaven, though not so completely and per- 
" fectly,as they will enjoy it, after the resurrec- 
" tion of the just shall be consummated. They 
c< are assured of their own eternal salvation, and 
" are anxious to forward the salvation of us, who 
s " are still tossed about amidst the storms and 
" perils of temptation. Of their charity and 
" their power in praying to him in the name of 
" Jesus Christ, no one, as far as I know, will 
" utter a doubt. But it is absolutely ridiculous 
" to deduce from hence, as you of the Church 
" of Rome do, that the Saints are to be invoked 
" by us, unless it be first made to appear that 
" they are thoroughly acquainted with all that 
" is going on among men. For, towards that 
" which is unknown, as, according to the pro- 
" verb, there is no desire (ignoti nulla cupido), 
" so neither can there be pity, afTection, love, 
" or hatred. Prove, therefore, but this one 
" thing, that the Saints have knowledge of our 
" circumstances — prove that real supplicatory 
" communication with them (wpocrevrsv^v), in an 
" ordinary way, is, at least, possible, and all 
" will be easy, we will make no difficulties 
" about their intercession, and our calling on 
" them for it. But if you cannot do this, (and 
" I know that neither you, nor any of your 



A PASSAGE IN BISHOP MOUNTAGU. 



397 



" party ever will,) what is it but downright 
*' folly, or rather madness, to leave certainties 
" for uncertainties ? to depart from Christ 
" Jesus, the all powerful, the all knowing, 
" the all merciful, and have recourse to the 
" Saints, to labour to engage their pity, who are 
" indeed full of ardent charity and in favour 
" with God, but in as much as they are ignorant 
" of what concerns us, are of course utterly un- 
" acquainted with the miseries from which we 
" seek relief r 

I have given this passage at length, that the 
value of Dr. Doyle's citation may be justly 
appreciated. That Divine enjoys a great cele- 
brity among the persons of his own communion; 
he has been distinguished, in and out of the 
British Senate, with the highest panegyrics on 
his talents and his honour. He must now submit 
to be addressed in a different tone, to be called 
on, before the public, either to disclaim the 
letters of J. K. L. which he has only not avowed, 
or to defend himself against the charge, which I 
hereby scruple not to advance against him, of 
shameful, palpable, deliberate fraud.* 

* I might strengthen the evidence against him, if I thought 
it necessary, by adducing proof of his similar practices on por- 
tions of Dr. Mountagu's English Treatise on the " Invocation 
" of Saints." But I spare my readers and myself that double. 



398 



HONOUR PAID TO IMAGES, 



On the next particular, that of 

* HONOUR PAID TO IMAGES/' 

I shall take but brief notice of the matter 
given in evidence. 

Dr. Kelly tells us that " Roman Catholics 
te consider Images as possessing not the least 
" sense, or intelligence ; and that the honour, or 
" respect, given to pictures and images, has 
"reference only to the character represented; 
" that such images may be useful in reminding 
" them of circumstances connected with reli- 
" gious duties; but that they attach no impor- 
" tance to them beyond that" — Commons, p. 241. 

That this is not quite in accordance with the 
language and decrees of Councils on this subject, 
is plain from what I have said in my letters to 
you, pages 88, 89, and needs not to be here 
repeated. 

But I may be permitted to ask, if the im- 
portance of images be indeed so trifling, how it 
happens, that Dr. Milner, as Vicar Apostolic of 
the Midland District of England, thought it 
necessary to apply to the See of Rome, and 
that the Holy See thought fit by a brief dated 
27th of June, 1814, to accede to his application, 
for a plenary indulgence to all within his 
spiritual jurisdiction, who, on certain prescribed 



MIRACULOUS IMAGES. 



390 



days, " being penitent, and having confessed, 
*' and received the holy communion, shall de- 
" voutly visit, from the first vespers to the setting 
" of the sun, an image of the most Holy Heart of 
" Jesus exposed in a church or public chapel, and 
" shall there pray for the concord of Christian 
" princes, and the extirpation of heresies ; which 
" said plenary indulgence shall be applicable 
" also, by the mode of suffrage, to the souls of 
<e the faithful deceased ?"* 

Permit me also to ask, how we are to under- 
stand the particular and pre-eminent devotion 
paid to certain images in preference to others ? 
Especially to miraculous images ? Images, 
which, as having at some time been the instru- 
ments, or media, of supernatural effects, are 
expected to repeat their prodigies, and are 
resorted to with much confidence and veneration 
accordingly. 

These are not merely vulgar preferences, but 
are authorized by the approbation of the highest 
quarters. Favourite images are at Rome an 
incalculable source of wealth to the fortunate 
clergy of the Churches in which they stand. 
The following incident was, three or four years 
ago, of much notoriety to those sojourners 



* " Devotion and Office of Holy Heart/' &c. p. 485. 



400 



BAMBINO OF ARA CELL 



at Rome, who made any inquiry into the 
state of opinions and practices in that city, 
and were not wholly engrossed by antiquarian 
trifling. 

A Bambino (or infant Saviour) belonging to 
the Church of Ara Celi, in Rome, was in great 
request for the purpose of procuring an easy 
delivery to pregnantladies. A certain Marchesa 
applied for the use of this image at her own 
house, which was readily granted to her. 
The Bambino, having performed its function 
very successfully, was sent home (as was 
imagined) with a handsome offering, in acknow- 
ledgment of its assistance. It happened, 
however, that in the middle of the following 
night a most tremendous and unusual knocking 
was heard at the great Western Door of the 
Church, and on the Sacristan's going to inquire 
the reason of it, he was answered, that the 
Bambino was at the door. On unlocking it, 
sure enough the Bambino was there ! and no 
sooner had it gained admission, than it went 
straightforward to its proper niche, tumbled 
the false Bambino (for such it was) with indig- 
nation to the ground, and replaced itself in its 
accustomed station. I need not add, that an 
order was immediately made by the proper 
authorities, that the Bambino should never go 



HOLY VIRGIN OF ANCONA. 



401 



again, even to ladies of the highest quality, 
without being attended by an officer of the 
Church. 

But it is not merely the Clergy of the private 
churches, who sanction the peculiar honour due 
to certain images ; the Popes themselves are 
in the habit of encouraging it by the highest 
spiritual privileges. 

The miracles which were wrought by (shall I 
say ? or on ? or in ?) certain images of the Virgin, 
at the time of the irruption of the French into 
Italy in 1796, are a matter of recent history 
too notorious to need much detail. The earliest 
in action of all these miraculous images was 
the great image of the Virgin in the Cathe- 
dral of Ancona. The Abbe Vincent Alber- 
tini, himself an Anconitan, and professor of 
eloquence at Fermo, published in the year 1820 
( with permission ) ' ' an historical and moral 
" picture of the invasion of Italy in 1796, 
" and of the miraculous winking, at the same 
" epoch, of the eyes of the holy image of the 
" most Holy Virgin Mary, worshipped in the 
" Cathedral Church of Ancona. 1 ' A brief ac- 
count of this work is given in the " Pieces Justi- 
" ficatives" of the second volume of De Pot- 
ter's Life of Scipion de Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia, 
p. 362, 3. We are there informed, that the 
miracle first occurred on the 25th of June, 



402 



IMAGE OF VIRGIN AT ANCONA 



1796, at the very time when the news of the 
defeats of the French in Germany, and the 
higher Italy, was spread through the country. 
The professor of eloquence, referring to this 
occasion, makes the following very appropriate 
address to his countrymen. " The angels," 
says he, " who in the heights of the empyrean, 
" worship their exalted Mistress, these very 
t( angels, to whom it is not permitted to direct 
" a single glance to her face, envied in some 
" sort your lot." But, whatever might be the 
feelings of the angels, certain it is, that " the 
" whole population of Ancona ran to this 
" image of the Virgin, and gave the most 
" sincere and unequivocal signs of penitence, 
" joy, and devotion. The Cardinal Bishop 
" Ranuzzi shewed himself among the most 
" eager." By his order there was published a 
true relation of the affair, which was known to 
24,000 eye-witnesses, and authenticated by 
legal inquiries. An inscription was engraven in 
stone, and placed in the Cathedral, to perpetu- 
ate the memory of this unheard of prodigy. 
" On the 25th of Nomber, 1796, the process 
" was brought to a close, drawn out with the 
" utmost rigour of form." The Pope instituted 
a pious f raternity to honour the image, under the 
name of the Sons and Daughters of Mary. 

The author further tells us, that on the day 



CROWNED BY PIUS VI 1. 



403 



after the first miracle, when a solemn proces- 
sion was made in its honour, the Virgin did 
nothing but open, and close, and turn her eyes 
on all sides, to the indescribable delight of the 
people, who absolutely wept for joy. On the 
26th of June, 1800, and on the 15th of August, 
1817, similar processions took place ; and on 
the 13th of May, 1814, Pius VII. in person, 
crowned the miraculous image, an event which 
was consecrated by an inscription. He fixed 
the annual feast of the image for the second 
Sunday in the same month, and attached to it 
the power of gaining a plenary Indulgence. So 
many, indeed, were the Indulgences, both 
plenary, and partial, which were granted by 
Pius VI. and his successor to this Image, that 
Albertini is afraid of being tedious, if he should 
recount them. 

It would, however, be great injustice to the 
other Images of the Virgin Mary in Italy, to 
suppose, that they continued idle, while their 
illustrious sister at Anconawas thus delighting 
the good people of that city. Far from it : at 
Rome, at Civita Vecchia, atMacerata, at Ascoli, 
at Frascati, &c, &c, the Madonnas were every 
where on the alert, and there was an absolute 
rivalry and emulation in winking among these 
holy images. A volume is now before me, en- 



404 



OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF 



titled " Official Memoirs of the Juridical Ex- 
" amination into the Authenticity of the 
" Miraculous Events, which happened at Rome 
" in the years 1796-7, including the Decree of 
" Approbation." London, Keating and Brown, 
1801. The Italian edition of these memoirs 
appeared " with the official approbation and per- 
" mission of the master of the Sacred Palace of 
" the Apostles." Pius VI. not only instituted the 
juridical proceedings, and sent these " digested 
" memoirs 1 ' in due form, to the Prince Bishop 
of Hildesheim, but also granted an annual mass, 
with an office, for all the Clergy of Rome, on 
the 9th of July ; which grant, as well as 
another for an Indulgence, was confirmed and 
extended by Pius VII. It is quite impossible, 
therefore, to find a better instance for our 
purpose. 

One or two specimens of these miracles will 
enable us to form a proper judgment of the 
whole; for, to say the truth, there is but little 
variety in the operations of the several images. 

Father Christopher da Vallepietra, Lecturer 
of Theology in the Capuchin Convent in Rome, 
testifies (p. 126.) on oath, that "he had made the 
" science of optics his particular study ; that he 
" went on Sunday the 17th of July, 1796, to the 
" Collegiate Church of St, Nicholas, for the 



MIRACULOUS IMAGES OF THESE DAYS. 405 



" purpose of seeing the picture of the blessed 
" Virgin of Guadalupe placed in that Church ;" 
that, " after reconnoitring the exact and ordinary 
" position of the pictorial eyes, he fixed upon a 
" situation sufficiently near to observe the 
" smallest occurrence, and there he made his 
" observations : that he had neve?' seen the picture 
" before, and therefore could not be suspected of 
" any prevention in its favour (Is it possible 
to conceive more satisfactory proof of the wit- 
ness's perfect sincerity ?) " that he continued 
" his prayers with his eyes fixed on the ground, 
" that they might be more fresh and certain, 
" waiting for the moment to observe the miracle, 
" as soon as he should receive notice from the 
" general acclamations of the people." It was 
not long before he heard a general cry, " See, 
" see, behold the Virgin ! 5 ' then quickly raising 
his eyes, " I saw," says he, " the laws of nature 
" suspended ; artificial eyes painted on canvass 
" opening; the superior eyelids gradually and 
" majestically ascending, so as to leave the entire 
" pupils, and the surrounding white clearly vi- 
" sible. They remained open at least the space 
" of four seconds, and afterwards with the same 
" slowness and majesty descended, and took 
" their prior position." — " Each of the spec- 
" tators, moved with the spectacle, as we may 



40G 



OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF 



" easily suppose, burst into tears, and some- 
" times into acclamations of joy, in acknow- 
" ledgments of the favours received" (a most 
exemplary instance of pious gratitude! for 
the only favour recorded, is that of being 
permitted to see the white of the Virgin's 
eyes) ; " or manifested marks of sincere repen- 
" tance and compunction. It was a most edi- 
" fying spectacle, to see the lively and simple 
" faith of these good Christians, who, as soon 
" as the miracle ceased, would begin to invoke 
" the most tender of mothers in these terms, 
(i ' Most holy Mother, permit us to see the pro- 
" 6 digyonce more ;' and the Holy Virgin, full of 
" goodness and condescension, would hear their 
ee prayers and grant them this consolation, by 
" again opening and shutting her eyes." 

Similar exclamations identifying the Virgin 
with her Images occur in every page.* But I 
have chosen this instance in preference toothers, 

* In p. 61, we meet with the following passage. 

fi The witness (Alexander Clementi) was present at an 
e( event by no means uncommon on similar occasions. A 
" robust young man, unknown to the witness, whose appear - 
'* ance seemed to speak him a mechanic, with an instantaneous 
" emotion, as soon as he observed the miracle, threw himself on 
" his knees in the midst of the people, and exclaimed, Most 
u holy Virgin Mary ! Thou hast been the means of my souls Sal- 
iC vation ; without this grace I must have been lost." 



PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN BY HERSELF. 407 

which had the sworn attestations of persons of 
much higher rank, in particular of the " Mar- 
" quis Paul del Buffalo, General Administrator 
€< of the Lotteries in the Pope's States;" " His 
" Grace the Duke of Lante della Rovere Vaini;" 
" the most illustrious Marchionesses Barbara 
" Palombara Massimi, and Maria Resta della 
"Torre;" " his Eminence Cardinal Romualdo 
" Praschi Onesti, Nephew of Pius VI. the then 
" reigning Pope;" " the most illustrious and 
" most Rev. the Bishop of Isauria, Consultor 
" of the sacred congregations of the Holy Office, 
" and of the Index, Examinator of the Bishops;" 
" the most illustrious and most Rev. Prelate 
" Julius Gabrielli, a Roman Senator, Apostolic 
" Protonotary, and actual Secretary of the Sa- 
" creel Congregation of the Council," &c. &c. 
I have chosen, I repeat, the instance attested 
by the worthy Capuchin in preference to all 
these, not because the facts in his case were 
more remarkable than in the others, nor even 
because of his skill in optics, but because of the 
very peculiar and eminently distinguished cha- 
racter of the picture. It is, in short, a copy of 
an original by the blessed Virgin herself! My 
readers must not startle at this intimation, for it 
rests on undoubted evidence, and has received 
the full assent and approbation of all the au- 



408 



PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN 



thorities at Rome. I will subjoin, verbatim, 
the account given of it in these " Official Me- 
" moirs." — " Every trait in the countenance 
" seems to breathe the most tender goodness, 
" and to recal to our minds the striking miracle 
" to which its owes its origin, and which was 
" effected at Mexico, where it has been the 
" means of rendering the Church of Guadalupe 
" very celebrated. In a word, it presents us 
" with an exact portrait of the Virgin Mary, 
" which in some manner may be esteemed the 
" work of her hands, according to the miracle 
" which I shall here briefly relate. 

" This Mother of Mercies having ordered 
" Giandiego di Quauhtitlan to gather upon the 
" Tepqjacao" (what a soft but irresistible air of 
truth breathes from these transatlantic appel- 
latives !) "some roses and other flowers which 
" she had miraculously produced on the spot, 
et she condescended to arrange them herself 
" on a coarse piece of canvass, the property 
s ' of her devoted servant, (Giandiego di Quauh- 
" titlan,) and by a new miracle these flowers 
" imprinted the beautiful portrait which may 
" still be seen at Guadalupe, and which is care- 
" fully preserved there as a perpetual monu- 
" ment of this extraordinary favour of the Vir- 
" gin, and as an object of veneration for all 



MIRACULOUSLY PRODUCED BY HERSELF. 409 

" the inhabitants of the country. A few years 
" ago a virtuous Priest of the late Society of 
* * Jesus," (what a mercy it is, that a Society whose 
Priests are so virtuous, and so considerate, is 
once more revived!) " animated with a holy 
" zeal for propagating among the faithful a due 
" respect and veneration towards this miracu- 
" lous portrait of the blessed Virgin, Mother of 
" God, made a present of a copy taken from 
" the original, by a capital artist of the modern 
" school, to the Church of St. Nicholas at Rome." 
Then follows a description of the portrait, with 
which I will not trouble my readers. I will 
only tell them, that those, who make haste, may 
yet perhaps procure, as I have done, at Messrs. 
Keating and Brown's, a copy of these "Official 
" Memoirs," where they will have (together 
with twenty-five others) an engraving of this 
authentic likeness of the Blessed Virgin, and may 
judge for themselves of " her original and 
" ravishing beauty." 

Of other instances I need not say much, 
though some of them are recommended by 
very considerable, and even permanent, effects 
wrought on the pictures themselves ; one, in 
particular, hanging in Mr. Pucci's nursery, by 
much additional beauty and liveliness of colour- 
ing, which still subsists, (p. 69.) and which, as 



410 WEEPING AND PEUSPIRING IMAGES. 

is positively attested upon oath by Mr. Pucei 
himself, a gentleman of independent fortune, 
" was not given to it from fresh varnish, or 
from any art or skill of man." 

I have already said that there was not much 
variety in the action of these images ; this remark, 
however, applies principally to those at Rome. 
In the provinces the case was different. At 
Torricella, for instance, "a torrent of tears was 
" observed running in a most miraculous manner 
" from the eyes of a statue carved in wood, and 
" representing the Blessed Virgin Mary, under 
" the title of our Lady delle Grazie. There 
" issued from her countenance at the same time 
" so profuse a perspiration, that not only the 
" Virgin's veil, but cloths applied by the faith- 
" ful, were completely moistened by the same.' , 
p. 217. Again, in the convent of St. Liberatus, 
at the foot of the Appennines, a similar "mi- 
" raculous perspiration was observed on the 
" picture of the Patron Saint, which is kept 
" within an iron grate, and above his tomb." 
< tf This perspiration was so copious, that besides 
" humecting the linen applied to wipe the face, it 
" moreover wetted the tomb that was underneath." 
p. 225. At Ancona, " the letters and narrative, 
<e and the legal process, all go to prove that 
" stupendous and unparalleled prodigies have 



IMAGE CHANGING COLOUR AND BOWING. 411 

" been witnessed in the picture of St. Ann, who 
" has her daughter, the Virgin Mary, before her, 
" and who is teaching her to read. On the 26th of 
" June, the people, who had flocked thither in 
" crowds, beheld the pictures of the Mother and 
" the Daughter turn their eyes towards the spec- 
" tators. In the mean time, the pupils 
" appeared to glitter like the eyes of a living 
cc person." — p. 215-6. 

But the miracle, which strikes me the most, 
is that which took place at Mercatello, in the 
instance of " a very antiquated picture of our 
" Lady delle Grazie, placed on an altar in the 
" collegiate church of that place. The counte- 
" nance assumed a brilliant tint, the eyes became 
" lively, and the lineaments, though scarcely 
66 perceptible, which several ages had effaced, 
" again became distinct and visible. The court- 
" tenance of the infant Jesus, which the Mother 
" held in her arms, changed colour ; and several 
" times ivas the Divine Infant observed to bend 
i( towards the glass which covered the picture, to 
" signify, as it were, how acceptable was the devotion 
<( of the pious multitude that was present at the spec- 
" tacte." I scarcely need to add, that all these 
statements are extracted from legal processes 
instituted in Episcopal, or other Ecclesiactical 
Courts, and duly certified as true. — p. 224. 

E E 2 



412 



IMAGES WINKING. 



Still, with these few exceptions in the pro- 
vinces, the main occupation of the miraculous 
images was in winking. The effects of the 
miracles, as far as military operations were 
concerned, certainly did not answer the pious 
hopes of the people : the successes of the allies 
in Italy were very shortlived— the French 
again advanced, plundered the cities, wasted the 
country, massacred the faithful inhabitants ; and 
the miraculous images, meanwhile, were con- 
tented with winking at all these enormities. 

But vastly higher blessings resulted from 
them than any merely temporal advantages, 
" We shall here mention, once for all," I quote 
the Official Memoirs, " this other species of 
" general miracle, which was not proved in the 
" process, as it was a fact of general notoriety in 
" Rome: I mean the general conversion and 
" change of manners, the spirit of repentance, 
" &c. Our ancestors have never beheld, and our 
" successors, it is probable, never will behold 
" the striking spectacle, which Rome exhibited 
" at this ever memorable epoch." " The sacred 
" names of Jesus and Mary were on every lip, 
" and seemed to make a feast for every heart. 
" You would meet at every step altars erected, where 
" the Blessed Virgin Alary, mother of God and 
4f man, was represented. Surrounding crowds on 



EFFECTS AT ROME. 



413 



" their knees were incessantly soliciting her favours, 
" or expressing their joy and gratitude for the 
" miracle repeated before them." " Rome was 
" then a second Paradise, and all that were not 
" strangers to the weakness of human nature 
" would have abundant reason to rejoice, could 
" but one half of this piety and zeal be per- 
" petuated in a world like our's, of sin and 
" misery."* — pp. 40, 41, 42. 

Such is this very valuable and official state- 
ment of the regard paid at present to images in 
the Church of Rome. I beg my readers now 
to turn to Dr. Kelly's evidence on the subject 
cited by me above, page 394, and see how far 

* It is only fair to add the following extract, as proving that 
some permanent results have ensued from these miracles. 

" In the midst of all the miseries for which we had to 
" reproach ourselves before God, and for which we were 
" imploring his mercy under our accumulated tribulations, 
" Rome, to do her justice, has constantly cultivated, and care- 
" fully nourished, a most tender and special devotion to the 
" glorious Queen of Heaven, Mary, Mother of God. The un- 
a paralleled prodigies that have occurred during these latter times, 
" have rendered this devotion a duty of the strictest obligation ; 
" for it seems that we have thence acquired a new title to the 
" glorious appellation of adopted children of the Blessed Virgin." 

" Since the miracles, these paintings have been, and still 
<c are, exhibited to the public eye in every street and in every 
" square of the metropolis, and they have received a degree of 
ci magnificence and ornament unknown to former ages." — p. 129. 



414 OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF MIRACULOUS IMAGES. 

its accuracy is illustrated by what has been here 
detailed ; particularly as far as relates to 
Roman Catholics attaching " no importance to 
" them, beyond reminding them of circumstances 
" connected with religious duties." 

If it be said, that these " Memoirs" relate 
only to the practice of Italians, I must first 
remind my readers of the sanction given to the 
whole by the injunctions of successive Popes ; 
and must then inform them, that such was the 
value ascribed to this work by the Roman 
Catholics of this kingdom, that in order to pro- 
cure a translation of it into English, there are 
the names not only of many of the distinguished 
lay families of that communion in England 
among the subscribers, but also of the four Irish 
Metropolitans, of a large portion of the suffragan 
Bishops, of three of the English Vicars Apostolic, 
of very many of the Clergy, especially of the 
Rev. J. Milner, F.S.A. Winton, for \ a dozen copies* 

* In connection with this subject,, I beg leave to subjoin the 
following Extract from the Declaration set forth by the Synod 
of Archbishops and Bishops held in Dublin 25th Jan. 1826. 

ce Catholics believe that the power of working miracles has 
ee not been withdrawn from the Church of God. The belief, 
" however, of any particular miracle not recorded in the Word 
" of God, is not required as a term of Catholic Communion, 
" though there are many so strongly recommended to our belief 
<e that they cannot without temerity be rejected." p. J 3. 



INDULGENCES. 415 

My next subject is, I am sorry to say, the 
very tiresome one of 

INDULGENCES. 

And here I begin with acknowledging an 
inaccuracy in my former statement of Dr. 
Doyle's language. 

I have said in note, page 164, of my Letters 
to you, " that Dr. Doyle, in the course of his 
" examination" (before the Committee of the 
House of Commons) " never once intimates, that 
" the temporal punishment, remitted by an 
" indulgence, extends to the pains of purgatory." 
This is inaccurate. In writing it, I had not 
adverted to a previous question which was pro- 
posed to him on this subject, and which was 
disjoined from the rest by several intervening 
particulars. In answer to that first question he 
said that a person " by gaining an indulgence 
" is thereby assisted and relieved from such 
" temporal punishment, as God in his justice 
" might inflict upon him, either in this life, or 
" hereafter in purgatory, previous to his admis- 
" sioninto Heaven."* 

But while I freely acknowledge my own 
inaccuracy, and would as freely acquit Dr. 
Doyle (if I could do so with sincerity) of all 

* Commons, p J 93. 



416 



DOCTOR DOYLE S ILLUSORY 



purpose to deceive in this particular, I feel 
myself compelled to add, that this is very far 
from being the case. 

The Committee, resuming fheir examination 
on this point, (the Report of which occupies two 
entire folio pages,) desires Dr. Doyle to " de- 
" scribe the nature of an indulgence." This 
he does at great length ; but in the course of 
his description not one syllable drops from 
him, which would imply that the temporal 
punishment of sin remitted by an indulgence 
extends at all beyond this life. The reason on 
which he grounds the infliction of such punish- 
ment, when actually suffered after the guilt of 
sin is remitted, not only does not apply to pur- 
gatory, but seems even to exclude all consider- 
ation of it, for it is inflicted, he says, " in order 
" that God may show to the faithful, at large, who 
" often are scandalized by the sin, his justice as well 
" as his mercy." I must here also again notice, 
that when the Committee expressly informed 
him, that they considered the temporal penalties 
of sin, of which he had spoken, to be such as 
had their effect solely in this life, he not only does 
not undeceive them, but says that which could 
only tend to confirm them in their error. But on 
these particulars, as I have already remarked* on 

* Letters to Butler, p. l65, note. 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 417 

them, I will not now enlarge. I will only add, 
that in his examination before the Lords three 
days afterwards, he still keeps the remission of 
the pains of Purgatory, and of all punishment 
beyond this world, nay, of all divinely inflicted 
punishment whatsoever, entirely out of sight. 
"The nature of an Indulgence," says he, "is 
" a remission of the temporal punishment which 
" may be supposed due to the sin after the guilt 
" is remitted by Almighty God, through the 
" Sacrament of Penance." And so successful 
is he for a time in this attempt, that their Lord- 
ships find it necessary on a subsequent day, to 
ask him, whether he assents to the statement of 
others, that Indulgences may have effect in 
remitting punishments imposed by God.* 

Meanwhile, the Prelates, who were examined 
after him before the Commons, pursue for the 
most part a very similar course. Dr. Murray, 
the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, 
being asked " What is the doctrine of the 
" Catholic Church with respect to Indul- 
" gences ?" answers as follows ; " The autho- 
" rities of the Catholic Church have, in virtue 
" of the power of the keys committed to them, 
" a power to remit a certain portion of the 
" temporal punishment due to sin, after the 

* Lords, p. 315. 



418 



doctor Murray's illusory 



" guilt of sin has been remitted ; but in no case 
" can Indulgences have effect, till the person is 
" first justified and reconciled with God." # 

Here we may perceive that Dr. Murray not 
only abstains from all mention of Purgatory, 
and even of divine punishments in this life, but 
moreover insinuates that the Church does not 
claim a power of remitting all the temporal 
punishments due to sin, after the guilt of it has 
been remitted, but only ''a certain portion." 
It would be interesting to know, what that 
(C certain portion" is ; and it would be still more 
interesting to learn, what course the Church of 
Rome would take with the Archbishop, if, 
instead of making this convenient insinuation 
before an Assembly of Heretics, he should 
venture to deny categorically, before the world, 
the power of the Church to grant a full remis- 
sion of all the temporal punishment of sin in 
such cases. 

He is afterwards asked more explicitly, what 
he considers to be the temporal punishment of 
sin? and he cannot but answer, that it " may 
" be either in this world or in the next." To a 
further inquiry, '* whether a priest of the 
6< Roman Catholic Church by granting, or with- 
" holding an Indulgence, can avert or accelerate 

* Commons, p. 226, 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



419 



" the wrath of God, as far as the temporary 
" punishment of sin is concerned ?" he answers, 
" that the authorities of the church can do so 
" by the power entrusted to them by God." 
But then he immediately shifts the question 
from the ?? wrath of God" to the penances im- 
posed by man. " The grant of an Indulgence," 
says he, " is accompanied, as a condition for 
" obtaining it, by an injunction to perform some 
" act of piety ; it is a change of punishment from 
" one species of austerity to another more 
" suitable to human infirmity, a kind of commu- 
" tation, which commutation is admitted in the 
" canons of the Protestant Church ; it is ad- 
" mitted, and laid down in Burns Ecclesiastical 
" Law, that there are such things as commuta- 
" tions of penance in the Protestant Church." 
—p. 229. 

Now, if this " commutation" be, (as it unde- 
niably is in the English church) merely a 
change from one humanly inflicted penance to 
another, it has nothing to do with the " wrath 
" of God," the point on which Dr. Murray's 
answer was required by the committee. But, 
if it were really intended to apply to the ques- 
tion, then Dr. Murray is pleased to say, that 
an Indulgence is a " change of punishment," 
from that which God inflicts, to another imposed 



420 



doctor Murray's illusory 



by the pope, which is " more suitable to human 
infirmity" ! The truth, however, is, that the 
very name, Indulgence, excludes the notion of 
commutation; and, accordingly, Bellarmine* 
says, that "it is universally agreed, that the 
" work enjoined for gaining the Indulgence, 
" need not be such as to compensate the 
" punishment due ; for in that case, it would 
" not be a remission, but a commutation, or 
" redemption." 

But the Committee are a little more sharp- 
sighted than usual in their examination of Dr. 
Murray on this point, and will not let him slip 
through their hands thus easily. They accord- 
ingly repeat their question in a form, which they 
doubtless thought would admit of no subter- 
fuge. " Can a priest of the Roman Catholic 
" Church, by granting or withholding an Indul- 
" gence, accelerate the course of a departed 
" soul through Purgatory, or retard it?" Cun- 
ning, however, as they are, they are no match for 
this Archbishop. He answers in a manner, which 
leaves them almost as much in the dark respect- 
ing the object of their inquiry, as when they 
began with him. " It is our belief, that prayers 
" in this world are of use to accelerate the pas- 
" sage of the soul in Purgatory to future bliss ; 

*De Indulg. Li. c. J2« 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



421 



" Indulgences, however, cannot reach beyond the 
" present life, except as far as God may be pleased, 
" through the merits of Christ, to accept our 
" prayers for the release of the soul in Purgatory " 
If the answer had stopped here, it would have 
seemed to have been tolerably clear, and to 
have denied every thing like efficacy in Indul- 
gences, beyond the prayers which may accom- 
pany them. But then it would have been 
downright heresy, and would have fallen under 
the censure pronounced against Luther by Leo 
X. Care, therefore, is taken by the Archbishop 
in what follows, to rescue himself from this 
predicament, and at the same time to avoid say- - 
ing anything which shall apprise his learned 
hearers of the ingenious expedient he is adopt- 
ing : ' 6 The church," says he, ' " has no power, 
" by right, to grant an Indulgence for the relief 
" of souls in Purgatory, except by way of suf- 
" frage or prayer ; but our prayers, offered 
" through Christ for that purpose, are con- 
" sidered to be efficacious in such a degree as 
" is known only to God." 

And here we have again occasion to recur to 
Dr. Doyle. The Committee of the Lords, having 

* See Letters to Butler, p. 163. 



422 



DOCTOR DOYLE'S 



already received that prelate's account of " the 
" nature of an Indulgence," and finding it to fall 
so very far short even of this statement of Dr. 
Murray, think it necessary to call upon him, 
in a subsequent examination, to give them his 
opinion more explicitly. His answer is worthy 
of attention. 

Q. " Dr. Murray has said, that a Bishop 
" or Priest,* granting an Indulgence, or with* 
" holding it, can accelerate or retard the wrath 
" of God, as against a sinner; do you agree in 
" that T 

A. " Not the wrath, but the punishment, 
" rather of God, as against a sinner. The 
" Christian, by gaining an Indulgence, can 
" apply, or offer that Indulgence by way of 
" suffrage, or in the nature of a prayer to God, 
" that God would be pleased to shorten the 
" term of punishment, which an individual or 
" individuals in purgatory should otherwise 
" undergo ; it is in that sense, and no other, 
" that Dr. Murray must have spoken, for our 
" doctrine is very plain, and known equally well, 
" or perhaps better, to Dr. Murray than to me : 

* I quote these words, as given in the question, though there is 
in them a manifest inaccuracy. A priest cannot grant an Indul- 
gence j nor can a bishop, except for a short period. 



E R RON EOU S STATE M ENTS , 



423 



" Indulgences can be applied to souls in purgatory 
" only by way of suffrage, that is, as a prayer."* 
Now, would not any one imagine, from this 
use of the words, that suffrage and prayer are 
synonymous, or, at most, that suffrage is a 
species of prayer ? whereas, in truth, prayer is 
only one of three species of suffrage. And thus 
the Archbishop and his friend hope to ride 
quietly off, without further observation, on an 
opinion which has been maintained by some 
few divines, namely, that Indulgences are effi- 
cacious only " by way of suffrage." It would 
be hardly worth while to stop them, if they 
had not thought fit to say, " It is our belief," 
" our doctrine." But this renders a few more 
words necessary, before we part with them. 
For, if by " our belief, our doctrine," they 
mean merely to express, each in the fulness of 
episcopal authority, that such is the belief, or 
doctrine, of himself individually, it is clear they 
are cajoling the committee, whose inquiry is 
solely directed to the belief and doctrine of 
their church. If, on the other hand, they mean, 
as it would be reasonable to suppose, the belief 
and doctrine of their church, they affirm, what 
they cannot but know to be utterly unfounded. 
For they must know perfectly well, that the 

* Lords, 315. 



424 ERRONEOUS STATEMENTS 



opinion, which they ascribe to their church, 
would be held in abomination by the great ma- 
jority of divines who have treated on the sub- 
ject, and is in direct contradiction to the Papal 
Bulls by which Indulgences are granted. It is 
in short, almost, or quite, heretical ; and, as the 
Class-Book of Maynooth expressly says, it is 
hardly possible to rescue it from the censure 
pronounced by Pius V. and Gregory XIII. on 
one of the proscribed propositions of Baius.* 

Another of the prelates examined on this sub- 
ject by the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons is Dr. Oliver Kelly, Roman Catholic 
Archbishop of Tuam ; he is pleased to cut down 
the doctrine of Indulgences still lower. He de- 
clares, with perfect gravity, that what is meant 
by the temporal punishment of sin remitted by 
an Indulgence, is no other than the penance 
enjoined : " You say the Church has the power 
" of removing the temporal punishment due to 
" sin ; by that you mean the penance enjoined?"- — 
" Yes."! And with this statement the Com- 
mittee are quite contented. They do not trou- 
ble him with a single inquiry, to elicit the rea- 
sons of the difference of his statement from that 
of his Right Reverend brethren, as well as from 
the common notions of the world respecting 

* Delahogue de Poen. 332. f Commons, 242. 



OF DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



425 



Roman Indulgences. Apparently, they do not 
even perceive any difference ; or, at least, they 
are not so impolite as to hint it to the parties 
themselves. In truth, their inquisitorial func- 
tions are uniformly displayed in the mildest 
and blandest manner, while they have a Roman 
Catholic divine before them ; but no sooner is 
a presbyter of the Established Church " called 
" in," than he is subjected to the most rigid, I 
had almost said, vexatious cross-examination.* 
I am glad that it was so ; for it has only con- 
tributed to make the triumph of truth the more 
illustrious. But if the Honourable and Right 

* I must refer to one specimen, chiefly on account of the ad- 
mirable firmness and dignity, with which Mr. Phelan main- 
tained his own ground, and corrected his Right Hon. inquisitor. 
See Report of Commons, 534 — 540. In the course of this 
cross-examination, we meet with one question, which proves 
that an acquaintance with the doctrine or liturgy of his own 
church forms no part of the qualifications necessary to constitute 
a parliamentary investigator of the difference of the two creeds. 
■" Is there not preserved in the Collect on one of' our Saint-days, 
a request that the Angels may pray for us f Of this question, 
I scruple not to avow my firm conviction, that it was not the 
spontaneous growth of the Right Hon. gentleman's own mind, 
but was planted there by some foreign hand : — it was, probably, 
part of the brief which he received from his Roman Catholic 
clients. How much more of the knowledge displayed in that 
Committee proceeded from the same source, I do not presume 
to guess. 

F F 



426 REAL DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES 

Honourable gentlemen, who formed this Com- 
mittee, can look back with perfect self-com- 
placency on the recorded difference of treat- 
ment observed towards the ministers of the 
two churches respectively, I do not much envy 
them their feelings. 

But to return to the matter in hand. Having 
exhibited the several statements given by the 
Roman Catholic prelates of the doctrine re- 
specting Indulgences, I will now inform any 
member of the Committee, who may do me the 
honour of reading these pages, what is really 
the doctrine on this subject taught by the Ro- 
man Catholic church, — nay, taught authorita- 
tively at the present day by that church in Ire- 
land, in the very country where these prelates 
preside. I shall do this, not in my own words, 
but in the words of the Class-Book of May- 
nooth. They are as follows — 

" Indulgences remit, even in God's forum, the 
" debt of temporal punishment which would else 
" remain to be satisfied, either in this life or in 
" purgatory, after the remission of the guilt of 
" sin ; they derive their efficacy from the treasure 
" of 'the Church, which treasure consists, prima- 
" rily, of the merits and satisfactions of Christ; 
" for as a single drop of his blood was sufficient 
" for the redemption of the sins of the whole 



TAUGHT AT MAYNOOTH. 



427 



" world, there remains an infinite hoard of his 
" merits at the disposal of the church for the 
" service of her children ; and, secondarily, of 
" the merits and satisfactions of the Virgin Mary 
" and other Saints, who underwent far severer 
" sufferings than their own sins required ; which 
" superabundance, and almost superfluity , of suffer- 
" ings of theirs, forms a sort of bank or deposit, 
" out of which the Church may make disbursements 
(i for the common benefit of the faithful in the way 
" of payment (via solutionis) for the punishments 
" or satisfactions due from them."* 

" There is no reason why this should not be 
" done for the dead as well as for the living ; 
H the church offering to God, by the method of 
" compensation (per modum compensations) 
" payment for them out of the satisfactions of 
" Christ and the Saints '."j" 

All this, I say, is taught as the only sound 
doctrine in the Class-book at Maynooth ; and, 
in saying so, I hereby defy all the Irish Roman 
Catholic prelates (whatever they may have 
sworn before the Lords, or affirmed before the 
Commons) to contradict me. 

* " Haec satisfactionum affluentia penes Ecclesiam manere 
" meritd censettir, instar alicujus depositi, quod in publicam 
" fidelium utilitatem irapendi possit^ via solutionis pro illorum 
c( debitis." — Delahogue de Pcenitentia, p. 334. 

f Ibid. p. 351. 

F F 2 



428 



BULL OF JUBILEE. 



To illustrate and exemplify the accuracy of 
this doctrine, I subjoin some passages of the 
Bull of " Indiction for the Universal Jubilee/ 
in last year. 

" During this year, which we truly call the 
45 acceptable time, and the time of Salvation,' 
&c. " We have resolved, in virtue of the autho- 
" rity given to us by Heaven, fully to unlock 
" that sacred Treasure, composed of the merits, suf- 
" ferings, and virtues of Christ our Lord, and of 
" his Virgin Mother, and of all the Saints, which 
" the author of human salvation has entrusted to 
" our dispensation." " We proclaim that the 
" year of atonement and pardon, of redemption 
" and grace, of remission and indulgence, is 
" arrived ; in which we know, that those bene- 
" fits which the old law, the messenger of 
" things to come, brought every fiftieth year 
" to the Jewish people, are renewed in a much 
" more sacred manner by the accumulation of 
" spiritual blessings, through Him by whom 
" came peace and truth." " During which year 
" of the Jubilee we mercifully give and grant in 
" the Lord a plenary indulgence, remission, and 
(( pardon of all their sins, to all the faithful of 
" Christ, truly penitent and confessing their sins 
i{ and receiving the holy communion, who shall 
(( visit the churches of blessed Peter and Paul, 



BULL OF JUBILEE. 



429 



" &c, and shall pour forth their pious prayers 
" to God for the exaltation of the Church, the 
" extirpation of heresies,* concord of Catholic 
" princes, and the safety and tranquillity of Chris- 
" tian people." 

I will conclude with a passage which I ven- 
ture particularly to recommend to the attention 
of the Archbishops and Bishops, whose answers 
to the Parliamentary Committees we have just 
been contemplating. 

" But you, venerable brethren, Patriarchs, 
" Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, co-operate 
" with these our cares and desires." " To you 
" it belongs to explain with perspicuity the power 
" of Indulgences; what is their efficacy, not only 
" in the remission of the canonical penance, but also 
" of the temporal punishment due to divine justice 
t( for siii; and what succour is afforded out of this 
" heavenly treasure, from the merits of Christ and 
u his Saints, to such as have departed real penitents 
" in God's love, yet before they had duly satisfied, 
" by fruits worthy of penance, for sin of com- 
" mission and omission, and are now purifying 

* In p. 187. of the former edition of my Letters to Mr. But- 
ler, the word heretics stands instead of heresies. It was so in 
the Newspaper from which I copied the extract I there gave. I 
have since obtained a copy of the ' f Laity's Directory for 1825/' 
in which the Bull is given at length, 



430 JUBILEE DID NOT EXTEND TO IRELAND. 

" in the fire of purgatory, that an entrance may 
" be opened for them into their eternal country, 
" where nothing defiled is admitted. Courage 
" and attention, venerable Brethren ; for some 
" there are, following that wisdom which is not 
" from God, and covering themselves under the 
' ' clothing of sheep, — under the usual pretence of 
" a more refined piety, are now sowing amongst the 
" people erroneous comments on this subject T 

Such is the language of the Bull, establishing 
the Jubilee of last year. But respecting this 
Jubilee a remarkable fact is discovered in the 
course of the examination of Dr. Magaurin, Ro- 
man Catholic bishop of Ardagh, before the 
Committee of the House of Commons. Q. 
" This is a year of Jubilee in the Roman Catholic 
" church?"— A. " I believe so" Q. " Do the 
" orders that have been issued from the Pope, 
" with respect to the celebration of that Jubilee 
" extend to Ireland?'— A. " No" Q. " Why is 
" Ireland excepted?"— A. " I do not know."* 

This sounds very strange. The Bull is ad- 
dressed, 44 To all the faithful of Christ who shall 
" see these presents, health and apostolical bene- 
" diction." In the course of it, the Holy Father 
is pleased to say, " Let the earth hear the words 
i( of our mouth, and let the whole world joyfully 

* Commons, p. 282. 



JUBILEE DID EXTEND TO IRELAND. 431 

" hearken to the voice of the priestly trumpet 
' ' sounding forth to God's people the Sacred 
" Jubilee." And yet Ireland, the land of 
Saints, the strongest hold of pure Catholicity, 
Dr. Magaurin tells us, is, for some unknown rea- 
son, excepted ! Surely, when one considers the 
inestimable value of the great spiritual boon 
conferred in a Jubilee, an exclusion from all 
share in it is an infinitely greater hardship 
on that persecuted and oppressed people, than 
that Mr. O'Connell should not wear a silk 
gown, or Mr. Shiel be eligible to a seat in 
parliament. I was almost prepared, therefore, 
to see the zeal and energy of the revived Asso- 
ciation directed into a new channel; and instead 
of wasting their breath by hopelessly contending 
for temporal favours which have been so often re- 
fused them, vindicating at Rome their claims to 
an equal share of spiritual privileges with the 
rest of the faithful throughout the world. But 
Dr. Doyle, in his re-examination before the 
Lords, has let in a small portion of light on 
this matter. He tells us, with but very little 
consideration, I am sorry to observe, for the 
credit of his Right Reverend brother, that the 
orders from the Pope for the celebration of the 
Jubilee did extend to Ireland, — that Ireland was 
not excluded from a share in the benefits of that 



432 



JUBILEE. 



precious instrument by the Pope, but by their 
own bishops, who had reasons for their deci- 
sion : though one of the number, Dr. Magaurin 
thought fit to tell his examiners that he did not 
know them. 

All this, I repeat, is let out by Dr. Doyle in 
the following brief communication to the Lords. 
Q. '? Has the Encyclical Letter of the Pope, 
" respecting the Jubilee to be held this year in 
i( Rome, been published in Ireland ?" — A. "No; 
" we received it, but we did not think it proper to 
" publish it"* 

It is a little to be lamented, that the curiosity 
of their lordships did not extend so far as to 
ask, why the Roman Catholic prelates did not 
think proper to publish it. For, in the absence 
of all information on this subject, any plain man, 
who considers the invaluable blessing of which 
the people of Ireland were thus deprived by an 
act of their own hierarchy, must regard it as 
the most extraordinary, the most astounding, 
exercise of episcopal discretion ever heard of ; 
provided always, that the prelates believe the 
doctrine of the church to which they belong. 
The only imaginable reason, which occurs to one 
not in the secret, is this ; that it was thought 
convenient, with reference to the parliamentary 

* Lords, 315. 



MISTATEMENT BY DR. DOYLE. 433 

examinations and discussions, which were about 
to ensue, that no such instrument as the Bull of 
Indiction should be adducible. 

There remains one minor point, which would 
not be worth remarking, except as it shews how 
far deserving of credit Dr. Doyle's statement 
is, whenever it suits him to extenuate the doc- 
trines or the practices of his church. Being- 
asked " What is the utmost extent, in point of 
" duration, of an Indulgence ?" — he is pleased to 
answer, "I believe seven years; there were 
" many fictitious or forged Indulgences (crowds 
" of which were carried about the world, and 
" which were not at all authentic) for, I believe, 
" a greater number of years ; but we do not 
" recognize, and have not, that I know of, ever 
" recognized any Indulgence for a period beyond 
i( that of seven years, when time is at all 
7 specified."* 

Now, in one of the common books of popular 
devotion, I find a distinct mention of Indul- 
gences of ten years; | nay, in the Class Book 
at Maynooth, Indulgences of seven, twenty, 8$c. 
years are expressly recognized ; J this 8$c. 
evidently admitting an indefinite number, ex- 



* Report of Commons, p. 195. 

f Devotion, &c. of Sacred Heart, p. 365. 

X De Poen. p. 342. 



434 



ABSOLUTION IN CHURCH OF ROME 



cept that Indulgences of " many thousand years 
are there treated as most likely to be fictitious. 

I have now before me an engraved portrait of 
the Virgin Mary's foot, taken from her true 
shoe, recently published in Italy, conferring, by 
authority of John XXII. and Clement VIII. an 
Indulgence of three hundred years, on all who 
shall kiss it three times, and recite thereupon 
three Ave Marias, 

ABSOLUTION. 

The next subject on which I will remark, is 
the evidence given on the subject of Absolution. 

Dr. Doyle is asked by the Committee of the 
House of Commons,* " What is the doctrine of 
" the Roman Catholic church respecting Absolu- 
" tion ?" an inquiry which he answers thus : 

" The doctrine of the Roman Catholic church 
" imprecisely the same as that of the Established 
" Church in this kingdom ; so much so, that 
" the words of Absolution, which we use, are 
" precisely those put down in the Visitation of 
ff the Sick in the Common Prayer Book, to be 
" used by a clergyman of the Established Church 
" when he visits a person who wishes to confess 
" his sins. Our doctrine then is, that the sinner, 
" feeling that he may in his lifetime have trans- 

* Report, p. 193. 



MISTATED BY DR. DOYLE. 



435 



" gressed the law of God, and being penitent 
" for it, acknowledges his fault to a priest, as to 
" a minister of God, and being sincerely sorry 
" within him for having so offended God, by 
" transgressing his law, the priest, by a power 
" derived from God, gives him absolution or 
" pardon; always requiring of him, that he do 
" every thing in his power by amendment of 
" life, to satisfy for his past offences, and if he 
" should have injured his neighbour in person, 
" character, or property, that he repair such 
" injury to the full extent of his power/' 

I will here wave all remark on the different 
meaning with which the same form of words is 
used by our church, in the office of the " Visi- 
" tation of the Sick," and will only take the 
liberty of referring my readers to what I have 
said on this subject in pages 210 — 216 of my 
Letters to you. 

But, even if we used those words in the same 
sense as the ministers of the church of Rome, 
if we pronounced absolution as actually con- 
ferred by us, and not merely declared, still Dr. 
Doyle's assertion of the identity of the doctrine 
of the two churches in this particular, is so 
entirely inconsistent with the truth, that I 
cannot but give to it the most unqualified and 
indignant contradiction. Dr. Doyle knows 



436 ABSOLUTION OF CHURCH OF ROME 

perfectly well that, according to the church of 
Rome, absolution is the gracious effect wrought 
by the sacrament of Penance, of which sacra- 
ment the words of the priest, " I absolve thee," 
&c. are the form : that this sacrament is pro- 
nounced to be so essential to salvation, that no 
man can receive pardon for mortal sin com- 
mitted after baptism without it; that not to 
have recourse to it once, at least, in every year* 
is itself a mortal sin; for no degree of penitence, 
no hatred of sin, no humbleness or brokenness 
of heart, no fervor of love towards the Almighty 
Being, whose law he has violated, no change of 
heart and life, will be accepted as true contrition 
without recourse to penance, in other words, 
without dependence on the priest ; above all he 
knows, what above all he was anxious to 
suppress, that a full and particular confession of 
every sin, with all the circumstances which may 
change its nature, must then be made ; that, at 
least, once in every year, therefore, every faithful 
son of the church, under the penalty of mortal 
sin, must, in the language of the Council of 
Trent, stand as a criminal before the priest's 
tribunal, and there await his sentence as the 
sentence of a divinely commissioned judge. 
Nay, Dr. Doyle also knows, that so little real 

* Yet Dr. Doyle talks of " his lifetime" 



MISTATED BY DR. DOYLE. 



437 



accordance is there between the two churches 
on this subject, that the only time when a 
special confession is not required as necessary 
for absolution by the church of Rome, is 
exactly that at which alone the same form of 
absolution* is prescribed indeed by the Church 
of England to be given, but after a special con- 
fession of sins, — namely, at the Visitation of 
the Sick. For thus does the Roman ritual 
enjoin, "If in the course of confession, or even 
" before it begin, the sick man's voice and speech 
"fail him, let the priest endeavour to become 
" acquainted, as far as possible, by nods and 
" signs, with the sins of the penitent, which 
" being known to him, whether generally or 
" specially, or even if the sick man shew the 
" desire of confessing, whether by himself, or by 
" others, he must be absolved T 

All this Dr. Doyle knows full well, and all 
this he has purposely withholden. Even when 
the Committee, astonished probably to find how 
harmless the bugbear of absolution appeared 

* It is right to add here a few words more, which the Roman 
Ritual requires to be used with this form ; "May the suffering 
" of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the Blessed Virgin 
" Mary and of all the Saints, whatever of good thou hast done, 
" and of evil thou hast endured, be to thee for remission of 
" sins, for increase of grace, and the reward of eternal life. 
" Amen." 



438 



MI STATEMENT OF DR. DOYLE. 



when stripped of its ideal horrors by their new 
oracle, yet not able at once to silence all their 
former prejudices, venture to ask, "Is there any 
" difference between the doctrine of the Catholic 
*' church and that of the Protestant church, 
*' with respect to absolution V This most 
veracious divine, this witness, whose honour 
and integrity, as well as talents, have been so 
loudly applauded in the English House of Com- 
mons, scruples not to say, " / really know of 
" none." Nay, even this is not all. With an 
affectation of candour more disgusting than all 
that has preceded, he adds, "I am sure the 
" Established Church requires, as we do, that 
ef the person making a confession of his sin be 
" sorry or contrite for it ; the words which the 
" priest of the Established Church uses, are 
" precisely those which we use ; so I see no 
" difference between the one and the other." 

Surely an honest man may be pardoned if 
he feels, and if he expresses what he feels, 
some warmth of indignation on witnessing dis- 
ingenuousness so shameless, yet unhappily so 
successful : if, too, he avows the pain and 
mortification with which he has seen a Com- 
mittee of British senators voluntarily erecting 
themselves into a Board of Theological Inquiry, 
and yet incapable of eliciting the smallest spark 



CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE. 



439 



of true evidence on the most notorious, the 
most common-place, of all the corruptions of 
the church of Rome. 

Before I leave this part of Dr. Doyle's 
examination before the Commons, I must refer 
to another particular, which demands some 
consideration. 

Q. " Are there any cases reserved to the 
" special jurisdiction of the See of Rome 
" itself?" A. " / believe not ; there is no case 
" whatever, that I know of, from which the Bishop 
" in this country has not the power to absolve. 
" How the Pope treats the matter in his own 
" territory, or in Italy, I cannot say." — p. 196. 

That the most learned prelate in Ireland 
should speak with so much uncertainty respect- 
ing a most important article of the powers of 
his own order, may well excite some surprise ; 
and this surprise is increased, when we refer to 
the following very strong passage in the 14th 
session, c. 7. (de casuum reservatione) of the 
Council of Trent. After stating that the absolution 
given by a priest, where he has no ordinary 
delegated authority, is invalid, the Council thus 
proceeds : " But it has been the judgment of 
" our most Holy Fathers, that it is of great 
" moment to Christian discipline, that from certain 
" more atrocious and grievous crimes no Absolution 
" should be given, except by the highest priests 



440 CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE. 



" only ; whence the Popes, with good reason, 
" and in conformity to the supreme authority 
" handed down to them in the church, have 
(< derived their power of reserving some more 
" grievous cases of crimes to their own peculiar 
"judgment " 

Now the real force of these words is, not 
merely that the Popes have the power of 
reserving from time to time, if they think 
proper, certain cases to themselves; but that 
there is a standing reservation of certain cases, 
(especially of Heresy,) the origin and authority 
of which are here stated. This is clear not 
only from the language of the Council itself, 
but also from the ancient and notorious practice 
of the church of Rome, a practice which is 
distinctly recognized in the following passage 
of a brief of Pius VII. dated 27th of February, 
1809, and addressed to the cardinals, bishops, 
and capitulary vicars of France; "We should 
" be sorry (and we would not even conjecture 
" such a thing except on very grave reasons) 
" that any of the bishops of France have excused 
" themselves from asking of the Holy See a 
" prolongation of these powers, from their 
" having embued themselves with the perverse 
" and infinitely dangerous opinion, that by virtue 
<c of their rights they were authorized to absolve and 
" dispense in all the cases which the ordinances of 



CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE. 



441 



" councils, the decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs, 
" have generally reserved to the power of the 
" Bishop of Rome, after the usage constantly 
(( followed even to this day in the Universal Church. 
"Let them examine, if (which God forbid) 
te they have arrogated to themselves these powers, 
" what are the outrages of which they have ren- 
" dered themselves guilty."* 

Then follows an Indult granting to the Arch* 
bishop and Bishops of France, for a term of 
five years only, the following among other 
powers, that, as delegates of the Apostolic See, and 
in every act making express mention of this Apos- 
tolic Indult, they may " absolve from heresy 
" externally manifested, provided that it be not 
" a case of heretics setting forth (dogmatisant) 
" their heresies publicly," (for no power is given 
them to absolve in such a case,) " from apostasy 
" from the faith, and from schism, after a suit- 
" able abjuration made,"&c. 

Upon this view of the doctrine, or dis- 
cipline of the Church of Rome, it is obvious 
to ask Dr. Doyle, whether he and his brethren, 
the Prelates of Ireland, have received from the 
Pope similar, I ought to say greater, powers ; for 
these, we see, expressly include a reservation. 

* ** Correspondance authentique de la Cour de Rome avec 
la France."— p. 159. 



442 INSTANCES OF THINGS CONFIDED 

If they have, why did he not acquaint the com- 
mittee with the fact, in order that they might 
form their judgment of the nature of powers, 
derived from a foreign source, and liable to be 
withdrawn at any time ? If they have not, (as 
I frankly avow my full conviction, that they 
have not,) how does he reconcile his statement 
with the truth ? Will he resolve the whole into 
his own ignorance, on a subject most intimately 
connected with his episcopal functions ? That 
is hardly possible. 

In the Report of Dr. Doyle's Evidence on 
the subject of Confession and Absolution before 
the committee of the other house, (as might be 
expected,) we are not shocked with any such 
display on the part of his examiners. They 
limit their inquiry to the possibility of disclo- 
sures being made by the priests of crimes 
communicated to them in confession ; and 
Du Thou's authority is quoted for the fact of 
such disclosures having been permitted in 
France. Dr. Doyle answers, (p. 245) " I would 
" not believe, on the authority of Du Thou, nor 
" any authority whatever, that it could have 
" been allowed ; for we hold universally, in the 
" Catholic Church, that the revealing of any 
" secrets confided to the priests in confession, 



IN CONFESSrON BEING DISCLOSED, 



443 



" is contrary to the law of nature, and to the 
" authority of God ; in respect of which, no 
" Pope or council can dispense or exercise any 
" authority, except to enforce such law." 

I do not question the sincerity of Dr. Doyle 
in delivering this opinion : but I think it right 
to state, in confirmation of the accuracy of Du 
Thou, (an historian whose candour and caution 
are of themselves no ordinary vouchers for the 
truth of what he affirms,) that a similar instance 
is recorded by Gregorio Leti, in his Life of Six- 
tus V. He tells us, that that Pontiff, after he 
had succeeded to the Papal Chair, availed him- 
self, in many cases, of the secrets formerly 
confided to him in the confessional, at a time 
when his great sanctity had rendered him the 
most popular confessor in Rome. He kept a 
register of these matters, and not only brought 
many persons to justice for crimes which had 
been so communicated to himself ; but he like- 
wise sent for the oldest confessors, and required 
them to communicate to him whatever crimes 
had been confessed to them. Several com- 
plied; and Leti justifies the proceeding by the 
necessity of the times.* 

Need I refer to the suspicions so generally 
entertained of the use made by the Jesuits of 

* Par. II. lib. iv. p. 285, 288. 
G G 2 



444 DR. DOYLE EXPLAINS AWAY PART 

the knowledge of state secrets acquired in the 
same way ? 

I must not quit Dr. Doyle on the subject of 
confession, without noticing an extraordinary 
declaration which he makes in his second ex- 
amination before the House of Lords. 

Having stated the religious obligation under 
which the "Roman priesthood is placed, of 
never divulging what is communicated to them 
in confession, he is reminded, that Roman 
Catholics are called upon, in their oath of 
allegiance, to swear that they will make known 
to his Majesty any treason, or treasonable de- 
signs, which they may know to be meditated 
against him. " From what you have now said," 
their Lordships proceed, " you could not take 
such an oath?"* His answer is one of the 
most curious, and, at the same time, most 
instructive imaginable. " As our rite of con- 
" fession is known to the laws, and our doctrines 
" with regard to it universally acknowledged 
" to exist in our church, the oath which binds 
" us to discover any treason, which may come 
" to our knowledge, does not oblige us to 
" reveal any thing with which we may become 
" acquainted in sacramental confession ; that 



* Lords, 309. 



OF THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 



445 



" is the manner in which we understand the 
" clause of the oath."* 

The first observation, which arises on this 
answer, is, that neither their rite of confes- 
sion, nor any doctrine connected with it, are at 
all known to the laws of England, that the fol- 
lowers of Johanna Southcote, or any one of the 
most insignificant sects that can be named, have 
just as good a right to set up a pretence that 
they are recognized by law. 

But, secondly, the oath required by the act of 
the 13th and 14th of Geo. III. does not only 
state that the person who takes it, " will do his 
" utmost endeavour to disclose and make 
" known to his Majesty, and his heirs, all trea- 
" sons and traitorous conspiracies which may 
J* be formed against him ;" but it further says, 
what we have over and over again been told, is 
alone a prodigious security for the strictest 
possible observance of this oath ; " and / do 
" solemnly, in the presence of God, and his only 
" son Jesus Christ my Redeemer, profess, testify, 
" and declare, that I do make this declaration, and 

* It is very remarkable, when taken in conjunction with 
what Dr. Doyle has here said, that the Dublin Synod, in their 
Declaration just set forth, giving an abstract of the oath of alle- 
giance taken by Roman Catholics, (p. 17.) omit all mention of 
the obligation to disclose all traitorous conspiracies which may 
come to their knowledge. 



446 CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH A MODE 

<f every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary 
44 sense of the toords of this oath, without any 
44 evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation 
" whatever,'" fyc. 

Now, if after this most solemn, most awful 
declaration, Dr. Doyle, or any other Roman 
Catholic, when reminded of his oath of alle- 
giance, may turn short round, and say, 44 there 
" are certain doctrines of my church at variance 
" with the terms of this oath, and as the law 
44 must know that there are such, the oath can- 
44 not bind us in opposition to them," — What is 
to become of any oaths whatever, that may be 
devised for these religionists ? I am not putting 
an idle question, but one that has a direct and 
immediate bearing on a most important fact. 
Ail the clergy beneficed in the Church of Rome, 
have taken an oath that they 44 acknowledge 
44 that church to be the mother and mistress of 
44 all churches, and promise and swear true 
44 obedience to the Pope, Vicar of Jesus Christ, 
<£ and that all things delivered and defined by 
44 the holy canons and general councils, they do 
44 unhesitatingly receive and confess, and that 
44 they condemn and reject all things contrary 
44 thereto." Every bishop, in addition to this, 
swears that he will assist the pope in retaining 
and defending the royalties (regalia) of St. 
Peter, against any man (salvo meo ordine) ; that 



OF CONSTRUING OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 447 

he will take care to defend, augment, and ad- 
vance the rights, honours, privileges and 
" authority of the holy Roman Church, of his 
" Lord the Pope, and his successors aforesaid ; 
" that he will observe, to the utmost of his 
" power, and will cause to be observed by 
" others, the rules of the holy Father's decrees, 
" ordinances, reservations, provisions, and apos- 
<tf tolic commands ; that he will render to 
" the Pope an account of his pastoral office, 
" and of all things pertaining to the state of 
*■' his church, and the discipline of his clergy 
" and people, and will thereupon receive, with 
" all humility, the Pope's apostolic mandates, 
" and execute them with the utmost diligence/'* 
How, I ask, are we to know, that the de- 
mands imposed by these oaths will never inter- 
fere with what the law of the land regards as 
the duty of good subjects ? But if they should, 
have not those, who take them, as good a right 
to say in that case, as in this of confession : 
4 4 the oath of allegiance does not bind me 
44 where my oath to the Pope interferes, be- 
44 cause it is contrary to the doctrines of my 
44 church, which doctrines your law cannot but 
44 know, and since it knows, cannot but 
44 respect?'' Is our common sense to be in- 
sulted with that mockery of a security in- 
* Lords, 258. 



448 DR. MURRAY AT VARIANCE WITH DR. DOYLE 

serted at the conclusion of the last oath by 
Pius VI. " These things I will keep the more 
" inviolably, because I know that there is no- 
" thing contained in them which can conflict 
" with the fidelity due to the King V 

In passing from the evidence of Dr. Doyle 
to what was stated by other divines on confes- 
sion and absolution, I shall confine myself to 
Dr. Murray, Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Dublin. 

That prelate, in his examination before the 
Commons, instead of confirming what Dr. 
Doyle had told them, instead of saying that the 
doctrine of the two churches is "precisely 
" the same," volunteers an enumeration of the 
demands which the church of Rome makes on 
the penitent, beyond any other church whatso- 
ever. " We require," says he, " all that every 
':' other christian denomination requires for the 
" remission of sins ; that is, sincere and intense 
" repentance, including a purpose of future 
" amendment ; and we require further, the 
" additional humiliation of confession, the re- 
" ceiving of absolution from the proper autho- 

rity, and an intention to practise such peni- 
" tential works as may be enjoined, or as the 
4< nature of the sin may require."* 

* Commons, p. 226*. 



dr. Murray's intense repentance. 449 



This difference between the two prelates it 
is not for me to adjust or explain. I am at 
present engaged with Dr. Murray : but of all 
the particulars here recounted by him, the only 
one, on which I shall remark, is the " intense 
a repentance," which he describes in glowing 
terms as synonymous with that " contrition by 
" which the heart is changed. 1 ' 

It appears that on the examination of Mr. 
Phelan, that gentleman had let in a little new 
light on the committee, by mentioning attrition, 
as a substitute for contrition, (it is called by 
the Council of Trent, imperfect contrition); and 
attrition is described by him as " signifying a 
" sorrow for sin, arising merely out of a con- 
" sideration of the punishment which may be 
" annexed to it ; and this feeling," he says, 
" is at present admitted by the highest autho- 
" rity in the Church of Rome, as entitling to 
" absolution."* 

Now this, it will be readily perceived, 
relaxes very considerably the intensity of the 
repentance of which Dr. Murray has spoken. 
This prelate, therefore, being on a subsequent 
day called in, (apparently for the purpose of 
doing away the effect of certain parts of the 
evidence of the Protestant divines,) is asked, 

* Commons, p. 491. — See also Letters to Butler, p. 197. 



450 BLUNDER OF THE COMMITTEE OF HOUSE OF 

among other matters, about M attrition."* But, 
unfortunately, he is quite unable to contradict 
Mr. Phelan's description of it. Here, then, we 
have at last Dr. Murray's "intense repentance ;" 
it is, in other words, " the fear of Hell." 

But in this second examination of Dr. Mur- 
ray, another very remarkable particular occurs, 
which must not be passed without notice. 

Q. *' Does not the Council of Trent require, 
"as a necessary means of justification on the 
" part of a sinner, that he be moved by divine 
" grace, repent for his sins, and detest them ; 
" that he should hope for pardon through the 
" merits of Jesus Christ, and begin to love God, 
" as the fountain of all justice?" — A. " Most 
" undoubtedly " Q. " Can any doctrine incon- 
" sistent with that be taught in your church, 
" without incurring the guilt of error ?" — A. 
" Certainly not."— p. 653. 

I beg leave to premise most sincerely, that 
I mean not to treat the Committee of the House 
of Commons, nor any member of it, with the 
slightest disrespect, when I venture to state, 
that the former of these questions can have pro- 
ceeded only from a very grievous, but at the 
same time very natural, blunder. To own the 

* Commons^ p. 654. 



COMMONS RESPECTING JUSTIFICATION. 451 

truth, I have no doubt whatever, that the 
examiner, be he who he may, was duped by 
some plausible, but disingenuous, informant, 
who put these words into his mouth, without 
giving him to understand the real case to which 
they are applicable. For the question is con- 
ceived in terms most remarkably accordant, 
almost, indeed, verbatim the same, with the 
language of the Council of Trent, and must have 
been devised by some one muchbetter acquainted 
with that Council, than the Committee has 
shown itself in any other instance, or could, in 
truth, be expected to be. But, after all, the 
justification for which the Council of Trent 
makes these requisitions, is the justification 
given in baptism* Nothing could be more 
accurate than the citation of the words of the 
Council, if that justification were the subject 
of inquiry. But the matter, on which the Com- 
mittee were employed, was the mode of obtain- 
ing, in the church of Rome, remission of sin 
committed after baptism ; of such sin, in short, 
as is the subject of sacramental confession. 
And I am quite sure, that if the Committee had 
substituted, in their question, the phrase remis- 
sion of sin, instead of justification, Dr. Murray 
must have given them a very different answer. 

* Con. Tricl. sess. vi. cap. 6'. 



452 



LOVE OF GOD 



He would not have dared to say, that the Council 
of Trent most undoubtedly requires? as a necessary 
means (or condition) of such remission of sin on 
the part of a sinner, " that he be moved by divine 
" grace, repent for his sins, and detest them ; that 
" he should hope for pardon through the merits 
" of Jesus Christ, and begin to love God, as the 
4 [( fountain of all justice." 

The Council of Trent requires no detestation of 
sin, no love of God, as necessary. Attrition, 
proceeding either from consideration of the 
turpitude of sin, or from the fear of Hell, if it 
excludes the present will of sinning, and be 
accompanied with the hope of pardon, is suf- 
ficient with the sacrament of penance. 

It is true, that the Class-book of Maynooth 
argues that there must be an initial love of God, 
(the nature of which I have explained in page 
200 of my Letters to you) : but so far is even 
that book from saying that this is most un- 
doubtedly true, that it cites a long passage from 
(one of the most learned, as well as most 
exemplary, of all your Pontiffs) Benedict XIV. 
of which the following is an abstract; " Before 
" the Council of Trent, the attrition, necessary 
" to obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of 
" penance, was commonly described by divines, 
wi as not altogether separated from, at least, some 



NOT NECESSARY FOR ABSOLUTION. 453 



" slender, feeble, initial love of God. The 
" Dominicans, Vittoria and Soto, first taught 
" that servile attrition, that which arises solely 
"from the fear of Hell, provided the penitent 
" believes it to be contrition, is sufficient. This 
" opinion was followed by Melchior Canus, who 
" extended it even to servile attrition, when 
" known by the party himself to be such, that 
" is, to be not true contrition : and Melchior 
" Canus's judgment was no sooner made public, 
" than it spread through all the schools, and 
" was eagerly adopted by a great majority of 
" divines, and those of the highest reputation; 
" some of the wiser and more learned among 
" them subscribed to this opinion, at first, with 
" great caution, but their successors, confident 
" in the number of those who maintain it, have 
" not only affirmed it without any doubt or limi- 
" tation, but have not scrupled to brand the 
" contrary opinion with a formal censure, as 
" utterly improbable, dangerous, and implicitly and 
" virtually proscribed by the Council of Trent J 9 * 

In addition to this testimony, I must cite 
a decree of Alexander VII. dated 5th May, 
1667, stating in express terms, that " the more 
" common opinion is that, which denies the 

* Delahogue, Pcen. p. 101. 



454 



LOVE OF GOD NOT NECESSARY. 



" necessity of any love of God in attrition, to 
" obtain the grace of God in the Sacrament of 
" Penance," and forbidding any one to decry it 
by any injurious or offensive expression. It 
forbade also the condemning the contrary 
opinion, (that some act of the love of God is 
necessary,) " before the Holy See shall have 
" decided."* The Holy See has since decided 
in the Bull " Unigenitus" (admitted to be valid 
in Ireland) condemning sixteen propositions (forty- 
four to fifty-eight inclusive) which, in different 
terms and in various degrees, affirmed the neces- 
sity of the love of God. Lastly, the Declaration 
of the recent Synod at Dublin, (p. 15,) 
describes the qualifications for absolution in 
such a manner, as excludes the necessity of 
any love of God. 

So much for this unlucky blunder of the 
Committee, and the prompt and ingenious use 
made of it by Dr. Murray. 

I will not dwell longer on the evidence given 
by him and his brother prelates on the subject 
of confession and absolution (though I might 
easily find matter for more than one discussion) ; 
but will conclude what I have to say on this 
point with the following important sworn testi- 

* Recueil Historique des Bulles, &c. Mons. 1697. p. 254. 



EFFECTS OF ft. C. DOCTRINES IN IRELAND. 455 



mony, given before the Lords by the Rev. John 
Burnett, a dissenting minister, resident at Cork, 
whose good sense, candour, and moderation, as 
exhibited before both Committees, entitle him 
to higher praise than I can presume to offer. 

" There are Catholic books in general circula- 
" tion in the country, that are subversive of 
" every first principle of morality and religion. 
" It is well known by the priesthood, that those 
" books are in circulation; they could prevent 
" their circulation, as they prevent, in a great 
" degree, the circulation of the scriptures. They 
" have never, so far as I have been able to learn, 
" made any attempt to prevent their circula- 
<e tion."— p. 469. " One book is the Cord of 
" St. Francis; the Scapular is another. There 
" are numbers of Books of Orders, as they are 
" called, which prescribe certain prayers to be 
" repeated, called acts of faith, acts of charity, 
" acts of hope, and acts of contrition ; they 
" prescribe certain forms to be gone through 
" in their devotions, and they connect with 
" these prayers and these forms speedy release 
" from purgatory. The lower order of the Ro- 
" man Catholics believe this, and feel and act 
" upon the belief of it ; the effect of which is, 
" that no Roman Catholic of the lower orders has 
" any dread of final perdition. I have spoken with 
" them frequently on the subject, and never found 



456 



DEMORALIZING EFFECTS OF 



" one of them that supposed he could go to Hell. 
" If they die in mortal sin, their doctrine is, 
" that they must go to perdition; if, however, 
" they apply to the priest for absolution, he 
" must give it; and in the case of absolution, 
4( which is administered on their professing a 
" regret for their sins, they go only to purga- 
" tory; and they depend on those Books of Or- 
" ders for their release from it ; and hence the 
" punishments of futurity, in their estimation, 
" are only temporary punishments; and this 
" conviction has a very injurious effect upon 
" the views and feelings and conduct of the 
" people. It is easy to make a profession of re- 
" gretfor sin, and to repeat prescribed prayers, 
" and to rely upon Books 'of Orders; and on 
" these professions, prayers, and books, the 
" Catholics do rely, instead of following the 
" general principles of morality, and taking a 
" rational and enlightened view of the religion 
" of revelation. " # 

" The influence of Catholicity in Ireland might 
" be extended very materially through the me- 
f * dium of confession; there is no feeling or 
" thought entertained by the people, that they 
" would withhold from the priest in confession, 
" if he chose to interrogate them; it is a medium 
" through which every species of information 

* Lords, p. 470. 



DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTION I V [RELAND. 457 



" could be obtained by the priesthood; and any 
" use, injurious or otherwise, to the community 
" or individuals, could be made of the informa- 
" tion so received from the people. The conji- 
" deuce of the people in their absolution, which 
"follows confession, is such as completely to de- 
" stroy in their minds any fear of future punish- 
" ment. I have found this to be the case gene- 
" rally ; and in cases where they are convicted 
" in courts of justice, they very seldom show any 
" thing like a feeling sense of their situation, 
" which, I conceive, arises solely from the con- 
" viction that the absolution enjoyed at the 
" hands of the priest will do every thing for 
" them. I have seen, myself, thirty-Jive indivi- 
" duals in the dock together, sentenced to death, and 
" I could not perceive the least degree of emotion 
" in consequence of the pronouncing of sentence, all 
" -which I attributed to the confidence placed in the 
" absolution of the Clergy."*— Ibid. 

* In the Eighty-fifth Number of the Edinburgh Review, 
recently published, it is affirmed with all gravity, that " the 
" doctrines of the Catholic Church, as to absolution, confession, 
" and penance, are laid down in the Common Prayer Book in the 
" same words as they are described in the Catholic Books." — 
p. 129. 

It will hardly be expected, after what has been already said^ 
that I should waste the time of my readers and myself, by ex- 
posing the utter ignorance which dictated this statement. Ig- 

H H 



458 GROSS ERROR OF EDINBURGH REVIEW. 



I must now touch on a particular brought 
forward before the Committees, which was not 
treated in any of my Letters to you. 

THE PROHIBITION OF THE FREE USE OF THE 
SCRIPTURES BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 

Dr. Doyle, being questioned on this matter 
by the Lords, first says, that " a rescript of Pius 

norance and presumption are to be expected,, as matters of course, 
in any discussion of the Edinburgh Review, in which religion is 
concerned. But when such an assertion, as I have cited above, 
is accompanied by such barefaced disregard to truth as is exhi- 
bited in what follows below, it is the duty of every honest man, 
in whose way these matters happen to fall, to hold forth to 
merited scorn the profligate and unprincipled character of a 
journal, which can have recourse to these miserable frauds. 

" It would be well were those Protestant divines, who have 
( 1 been so forward in bringing accusations against the Catholics, 
" and in declaring what the doctrines of Roman Catholics are? 
<( from their own views and inferences, to let the RomanCatholic 
" Church speak for itself ; and toallowits dogmas to be learnedfrom 
" its councils, its professions of faith , its catechisms, its liturgies, 
<l and its most able divines. For our own part, we feel it to be our 
" duty, in approaching the delicate, and now highly important 
* task, of endeavouring to develope the real principles of the 
ec Roman Catholic Religion, with respect to the so much talked 
" of authority and influence of the Pope, to suspect all our own 
" old and long cherished opinions ; to investigate each fact of the 
" case, as if for the first time presented to our understanding ; 
" and, above all, not to take doctrines of the Catholics at second- 
-hand, but to refer directly to the known depositaries of their 



GROSS ERROR OF EDINBURGH REVIEW. 459 



" VI. exhorting the faithful to read the Word 
" of God, is prefixed to their Editions, in Eng- 

" faith and discipline." " The Reverend petitioners of the Church 
" of England would do well to reflect, that in vilifying and misre- 
" presenting the Catholic religion, they are raising a prejudice 
" agaitist a religion that has a very great similarity to their own.''' 
Then, among other matter almost equally veracious, occurs what 
I first cited. t( The doctrines of the Catholic church, as to ab- 
Ci solution, confession, and penance, are laid down in the Com- 
(C mon Prayer Book in the same words as they are described in 
cc the Catholic Books." 

All this, we see, is not mere ignorance. It is intimated with 
a ludicrous parade of research and self-complacency, that 
te councils, professions of faith, catechisms, liturgies," &c. have 
been consulted ; whereas, it is perfectly certain, that if the 
writer had really had recourse to any tolerable authorities, be? 
fore he had the hardihood to impose such a statement on his 
readers, he would have found them expressing directly the con- 
trary to what he affirms. 

Of the other blunders and misrepresentations, of which this 
article would present a plentiful crop to any one who thought 
them worth gathering, I have neither the time nor the patience 
to undertake the exposure. Happily, the day is past, when 
much mischief can ensue from this quarter. But there is one 
particular, on which I must dwell for a moment, I mean the 
miserable attempt to whisper away the character of the Rev. J. 
Blanco White, and his book, in the following note at p. 135. 
" Mr. Charles Butler, in his Book of the Roman Catholic 
ec Church refers to the Canon of the Tenth Session of this 
" Council, and says, that it defined that ' full power was 
" ' delegated to the Bishop of Rome, in the person of St. Peter, 
" ' to feed, regulate, and govern the Universal Church, as ex- 
H H 2 



460 EDINBURGH REVIEW'S FALSE CHARGE 



" lish, of the Bible,'' which rescript certainly does 
not appear in the only edition which I have been 

" ' pressed in the General Councils and holy canons' This, Mr. 
" Butler declares, ' is the doctrine of the Roman Catholic 
" ' Church on the authority of the Pope, and beyond it no 
" e Roman Catholic is required to believe.' Mr. Blanco White, 
" in his late publication, denies the accuracy of the declaration of 
" Mr. Butler, and quotes the words, e full power to feed, regu- 
<f ( late, and govern the Universal Church,' as giving an unli- 
" mited power, without quoting the words immediately follow- 
<l ing, e as expressed in the general councils and holy canons :' 
" which words directly qualify and limit the power ! ! ! Mr. 
" Blanco White, we regret to say, betrays many similar suppres- 
" sions of the whole truth in his book" 

Now will it be believed, that this shameless attack on an able, 
learned, and exiled foreigner, one who has the strongest of all 
claims on the respect of every friend of literature and virtue, 
who has made large sacrifices of wealth and honours at the 
dictate of conscience, whose only fault, even in the eyes of this 
reviewer, must be, that he has embraced, from honest con- 
viction, the faith and the communion of the Church of Eng- 
land, — rests altogether on the false rendering of a few plain 
Latin words in the decree of the Council of Florence, which 
any fourth-form boy at the High -school at Edinburgh could 
have taught the Reviewer and Mr. Butler how to construe ? 

Those words are as follows : — " Quemadmodum et in gestis 
r< CEcumenicorum Conciliorum et in sacris Canonibus conti- 
" netur." (As also is contained in the Acts of the General 
Councils and holy Canons.) This is rendered by these precious 
scholars, <c as expressed in the General Councils, and Holy 
" Canons," and the Reviewer adds, "which words directly qualify 
u and limit the power." But let me ask this learned clerk, who 



AGAINST THE REV. J. BLANCO WHITE. 4G1 



able to consult, the Stereotype edition of last 
year* Henext enumerates no fewer than seven 
editions of the Bible, which they have procured 
to be published in Ireland, since the invention 
of the art of printing, for a population which is 

tells us he has " felt it his duty" to examine Councils, &c, can 
he name any one admitted General Council, which does " qua- 
" lify and limit the power of the Pope?" " Yes," says he, p. 
134. "the Councils of Constance and Basil, among the most 
" authoritative that ever assembled, have declared in express 
" terms, that the supreme power of the Church-militant under 
" Christ, over all the faithful, and even over the Pope himself, 
" with respect to matters of faith, is vested in General Councils," 
and yet, three pages before, note, p. 131. he has himself said* 
that te the decrees of a General Council, to be valid, must be ap- 
" proved by the Pope /" But can he be so very ignorant, as not 
to know, that the Councils of Constance and Basil, which he 
styles " among the most authoritative that ever assembled," 
have, in truth, no authority at all, on the particulars in which 
they are alleged by him ? and this, even on the principle ad- 
mitted by himself, the want of the sanction of the Pope ? Ac- 
cordingly, the former is not admitted into Bellarmine's list of 
approved General Councils, and though it appears in Delahogue's 
list, it is with an intimation, that its earlier Sessions, in which 
the Decree quoted by the Reviewer was passed, have not the 
consent of the Church at large. As for the Council of Basil, it 
is not admitted even into Delahogue's list, much less into that 
of Bellarmine. — See Delahogue de Eccl. App. ii. p. 439. 

* It seems from Mr. Donellan's evidence before the Lords, 
p. 379, that this rescript w T as prefixed to only one edition ; and it 
is there stated, that the rescript recommended the reading of the 
Scriptures, te under proper restrictions and regulations.." 



462 



FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES 



stated, with whatever accuracy, to amount at 
the present clay to not less than six millions ! 
and then proceeds as follows : — " So that of all 
" the things said of us, there is not any thing 
" more opposed to truth, than that we are averse 
" to the circulation of the Word of God." — p. 237. 

My observations on this point will not give 
me much labour of argument ; I shall, in truth, 
have little more to do than to use my scissors. 

I will first present my readers with an extract 
from the " Fourth Rule De Libris prohibitis,' 5 
set forth by the select Fathers to whom the 
Synod of Trent had committed this charge, and 
" approved and confirmed by Pius IV. ;" re- 
minding my readers, that the decrees of this 
council, even respecting discipline, have been 
accepted, and are, of course, valid, in almost 
every part of Ireland. 

" Since it is manifest by experience, that if 
" the holy Bibles in the vulgar language are per- 
" mitted to be read every where without discri- 
" mination, more harm than good arises, let the 
" judgment of the bishop or inquisitor be abided 
" by in this particular. So that after consult- 
" ing with the parish minister or the confessor, 
" they may grant permission to read transla- 
" tions of the Scriptures made by Catholic Au- 
" thors, to those whom they shall have under- 
" stood to be able to receive no harm, but an 



PROHIBITED TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 463 

" increase of faith and piety from such reading ; 
' ' which faculty let them have in writing. But 
" whosoever shall presume to read these Bibles, 
" or have them in possession without such fa- 
" culty, shall not be capable of receiving abso- 
" lution of their sins, unless they have first given 
" up their Bibles to the ordinary. Booksellers 
" who shall sell, or in any other way furnish, 
" Bibles in the vulgar tongue to any one not 
" possessed of the license aforesaid, shall for- 
" feit the price of the books, which is to be ap- 
" plied by the bishop to pious uses, and shall 
" be otherwise punished at the pleasure of the 
" same bishop according to the degree of the 
" offence. Moreover, regulars (i. e. monks) may 
" not read or purchase the same without license 
" had from their principals." 

My next extract shall be from the Encyclical 
Letter of the present Pope, Leo XII., dated 3d 
May, 1824, and published with "Pastoral In- 
" structions to all the faithful," by the Archbi- 
shops and Bishops of Ireland. 

" We also, venerable brethren, in conformity 
" with our apostolic duty, exhort you to turn 
" away your flock, by all means, from these 
" poisonous pastures," (the Scriptures translated 
into the vulgar tongue.) " Reprove, beseech, 
" be instant in season and out of season, in all 
" patience and doc trine, that the faithful entrusted 



464 



FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES 



" to you (adhering strictly to the rules of our 
" Congregation of the Index),* be persuaded, 
" that if the Sacred Scriptures be every indiscrimi- 
" nately published, more evil than advantage 
" will arise thence, on account of the rashness 
" of men." — p. 16. 

To this passage the Irish prelates, Dr. Doyle 
among the rest, in their " Pastoral Instructions," 
refer in the following terms ; " Our Holy Father 
" recommends to the observance of the faith - 
" ful, a rule of the Congregation of the Index, 
" which prohibits the perusal of the Sacred 
" Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, without the 
" sanction of the competent authorities. His 
" Holiness wisely remarks, ' that more evil than 
" c good is found to result from the indiscrimi- 
" 6 nate perusal of them, &c.' In this sentiment 
" of our head and chief ive fully concur." — p. 54. 

The recent Synod of Dublin, p. 12, says, as 
follows : — " The Catholics in Ireland, of mature 
(( years, are permitted to read authentic and ap- 

* This rule has just been cited above. It is worth remark- 
ing, by the way, that that honest controvertist and faithful histo- 
rian, Dr. Lingard, has spoken of the Index as follows : — " The 
" authority of the Index was always very confined, and in many 
" Catholic countries was never acknowledged. Yet this very 
" prohibition contained in the Index is only conditional, and 
" has always been considered as a temporary regulation .'' '— -JLin- 
gards Tracts, p. 232. 



PROHIBITED TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 465 



" proved translations of the Holy Scriptures, 
" with explanatory notes, and are exhorted to 
" use them in the spirit of piety, humility and 
" obedience." 

My last extracts on this subj ect shall be from the 
writings of Dr. Doyle himself. " The Scriptures 
" alone have never saved any one, they are inca- 
" pable of giving salvation, it is not their object ; 
" it is not the end for which they were written. 
" They hold a dignified place amongst the 
" means of the institution, which Christ formed 
' ' for the purpose of saving his elect ; but though 
" they never had been written, this end would have 
" been attained, and all who were pre-ordained to 
" eternal life would have been gathered to the 
" Church, and fed with the bread of life." — 
/. K. L. p. 164. 

Let us pause one moment here. " Receive 
' 'with meekness the engrafted word, which is 
" able to save your souls," says St. Paul. — It is 
able to do no such thing, says Dr. Doyle, " the 
" Scriptures alone have never saved any one," 
— where by the word " alone" he does not 
mean, without the assistance of the grace of 
God, but without the assistance of the priest. 

" From a child," says the same St. Paul to 
Timothy, " thou hast known the Holy Scrip- 
" tures which are able to make thee wise unto sal- 
" vation" What says Dr. Doyle? " They arc 



466 



DK. DOYLE'S REASONS 



" incapable of giving salvation, it is not their object, 
" it is not their end." 

Once more. " These are written/' says St. 
John, " that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
" Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye 
" might have life through his name." " This is 
" all very well," says Dr. Doyle ; "but do not 
" think the Scriptures necessary ; though they 
" never had been written, this would have been at- 
" tamed, and we should have had life without 
" them." 

Let me proceed with my extracts. " Had 
" the chain, with which Henry the Eighth tied 
" the Bible to the preaching desk in England, 
" never been broken, that country would not 
" have witnessed the scenes which her history 
" records," (very true !) and " she might this day 
" be the most free and happy nation on the earth, 
( * reposing in the bosom of the Catholic church /" 

" Wherever the reading of the Bible is not re- 
" gulated by a salutary discipline such as ours, 
(C it leads a great portion of the people neces- 
" sarily to fanaticism or to infidelity." — p. 179. 

" The entire Scriptures, or portions of them, 
" may be read for edification and instruction 
" by all who will not abuse them, or who, in 
" the opinion of those, whom the Holy Ghost 
" placed to rule the church, are like to profit 

by them."— p. 207. 



AGAINST FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES. 467 



" What then is the difference between us? — 
" a very wide one indeed ; for we maintain that 
" the Scripture is given to all, that they may, 
" each in his proper station, be instructed by it 
" unto righteousness. Not all of it to be entrusted 
" to each, but what is useful to every one, that no 
" one may be more wise than he ought, but that 
" he may be wise to sobriety. This is the eco- 
" nomy of our church."* — p. 217. 

After this detail of Dr. Doyle's sentiments re- 
specting the Scriptures, it is a matter of course, 
that he should be vehemently opposed to the 

* To enliven his grave statement of this church's economy, 
he is pleased to favour his readers with the following most edi- 
fying and instructive narrative in testimony of his respect for 
the word of God, when it is at all associated with the acts of 
heretics. " I heard of a poor man in the county of Kildare, 
" who, if I gave him a Bible, would venerate it more than any 
" thing he possessed, but having been favoured by the lady of 
" his master with one of the Societies' Bibles without note or 
" comment, accepted of it with all the reverence which the 
" fear of losing his situation inspired. But, behold ! when the 
" night closed, and all danger of detection was removed, he, 
" lest he should be infected with heresy exhaled from the Pro- 
" testant Bible during his sleep, took it with a tongs, for he 
" would not defile his touch with it, and buried it in a grave which 
" he had prepared for it in his garden ! I do admire the orthodox]/ 
" of this Kildare peasant ; nay, I admire it greatly ; and should 
" / happen to meet him, I shall reward him for his zeal" — 
p. 179. 

It is but justice to the church, in which Dr. Doyle is a bishop, 



468 



DR. DOYLE AND BIBLE SOCIETY. 



efforts of the Bible Society. I am not going 
to obtrude any remarks in favour of that Society, 
whose advocates need no support in arguing 
with their Irish opponents; but it is interesting 
to observe Dr. Doyle's extreme sensibility to 
every thing like persecution. It exhibits itself 
in the following very singular declaration; from 
which it is quite plain, that when the legislature 
shall have gratified him and his friends with the 
repeal of every adverse statute, he will not be 
satisfied, unless the Bible Society be also put 
down by act of parliament. " We have borne 
" many things, but we have never borne a perse- 
" cution more bitter than what now assails us. 
" As the persecution of the church by Julian in 
" the time of peace was more afflicting than that 
" of Nero or Domitian, so what we suffer from these 
" societies, the power and prejudice they have em- 
" bodied against us, is more tormenting than what 
" we endured under Anne or the Second George." (p. 
153.) With that consistency, which is the 
inseparable characteristic of truth, he tells us - 
presently afterwards, as part of his "-general 

to add, that that church is not answerable for this foul insult on 
the feelings of every Christian. The order of the church, as 
recognized by himself, (Evidence before the Lords, p. 238.) is 
this, that while all other tracts communicated by Protestants 
are to be restored to their owners or destroyed j Bibles and 
Testaments are to be brought to the parish priest. 



POWER OF THE POPE. 



469 



" conclusion from the foregoing observations," 
that "the Society s labours hitherto have been, and 
" must continue, fruitless, whether in converting 
" infidels, or in disturbing Catholicity.'" 

From these various Extracts my reader will 
form his own judgment of the injustice done to 
the Roman Catholic Church, when it is said to 
be " averse to the circulation of the Word of 
" God." 

POWER OF THE POPE. 

We have here a subject, which is rendered 
more interesting than any that has preceded it, by 
the political question with which it is so inti- 
mately connected. I am, afraid, therefore, that 
it will occupy us, in its several ramifications, 
a little longer than I would wish. 

Dr. Doyle's evidence will be mainly, though 
not exclusively, my textbook; and very curious, 
indeed, are the texts recorded therein. 

I will begin with one or two of the most mar- 
vellous. 

" As far as I am acquainted with the history 
of such claims," (the claims of the Popes to in- 
terfere with the temporal rights of Princes,) 
" they rested them upon such temporal rights 
" previously acquired by themselves or their 
" predecessors" — (" by Kings and Princes mak- 
" ing their states tributary to the Holy See, or 



470 DR. doyle's erroneous statement 



" resigning them into the hands of the Pope, 
" and then accepting them back again, as Gifts 
" of the Holy See,") " with the single exception 
" of, I think, Boniface the Eighth. He in a 
" contest, as I recollect, with some king of 
" France, includes in a brief, which he issued, 
" a declaration that he did so by an authority 
" vested in him from above. This is the only 
" instance of the kind, which has occurred to 
" me in my reading."* 

I must frankly express my astonishment, that 
the reading of this distinguished divine has been 
so very much confined. Among innumerable 
instances with which my own narrow reading- 
has furnished me (some of which have been men- 
tioned in p. 279, 281 of my Letters to you), I 
will select the following as more peculiarly 
interesting to the people of this country : it is 
the commencement of Paul III.s bull "Ejus 
" qui,"| condemning, excommunicating, and 
hurling from his throne, our own sovereign, 
Henry VIII. ; and it presents us with his Holi- 
ness's own statement of the authority upon 
which he rested that very vigorous measure. 
** We, representing on earth Him, who order eth 
" all things by his wonderful Providence, and 
" placed in the seat of Judgment, according to the 
" prediction of the prophet Jeremiah (i. 10.) 

* Commons, 191. t Bull. Mag. t. i. p. 707. 



OF ORIGIN OF PAPAL POWER. 



471 



" 1 See ! I have set thee up over the nations and 
" ' over the kingdoms, to root up and to pull 
" ' down, and to destroy and to throw down; to 
" ' build and to plant, &c." ' Thus it appears 
that this is the standing text on these occasions, 
it is not only adopted by Boniface VIII. and In- 
nocent III. but also by Paul III. PiusV.&c.&c. 

There is, however, one instance, which is in- 
star omnium against Dr. Doyle's pleasant theory 
to account for the claims of the Pope to temporal 
power in independent states ; I mean the gift of 
America to Spain, and of India to Portugal, by 
Alexander VI.* Surely these countries had 
never been surrendered in any way to him or 
his predecessors. 

But let us look at another assertion of Dr. 
Doyle : 

" The Pope," says he, " at present does 
" not interfere, or attempt to interfere, with the 
" temporal concerns of any kingdom in Europe ; 
" to this, perhaps, there is an exception with 
" regard to the kingdom of Naples." " Let me 
" repeat, that the case of Naples is the only one 
" in which the Popes of Rome have, for the 
" last three centuries nearly, interfered in any 
" way directly, or indirectly, with the temporal 
" concerns of any state in Europe." — Com. 191. 

Such is his language before the Commons. 

* See " Hen-era," in Robertson's America, vol. i. p. 127. 



472 dr. doyle's erroneous statement 

On a subsequent day in his second examination 
by the Lords* (contrary to his usual practice 
before that auditory) he ventures on a higher 
flight, and actually brings himself to make on 
oath the following portentous asseveration. — 
" The Church has uniformly for nine centuries, 
i( by her Popes themselves, by her practice, and 
e( by her doctrines, and by her academies, 
" maintained that the Popes have no right whatever 
" to interfere with the temporal sovereignties or 
" rights of kings or princes T 

There are some positions, which it is difficult 
to refute, without appearing to depart from the 
respect which an author ought always to feel for 
the understanding and information of his rea- 
ders : and if there ever was an instance of this 
kind, the present may pre-eminently claim to be 
so regarded — Let me then seriously assure my 
readers, that I do not suppose there is a man 
among them so ignorant as to believe what Dr. 
Doyle has here been pleased to say ; and that 
in undertaking to adduce a few of the many 
facts which are at variance with his sworn as- 
sertion, I have no other object in view than to 
place his credit as a witness in its proper light. 

In doing this I will make no advantage of the 
enlarged term of nine centuries past taken by 
him, but will suppose, for a while, that such 

* Lords, p. 311. 



BULL IN C(ENA DOMINI. 



473 



personages as Innocent III. Gregory VII. and 
Dr. Doyle's old friend Boniface VIII. cum multis 
aliis, are utterly unknown to history. In short, 
I will limit my inquiries to the Doctor's more 
modest statement before the Commons, that "in 
" 7io case except that of Naples have the Popes, 
"for the last three centuries nearly, interfered in 
" any way, directly or indirectly, with the temporal 
" concerns of any state in Europe." 

In the year 1536, Paul III. put forth the fa- 
mous Bull " Consueverunt,"* commonly called 
in ccena Domini, because it was published on 
Maundy Thursday, and was to be publicly pro- 
claimed at Rome on every subsequent anniver- 
sary of that day. It was in fact regularly so 
proclaimed in every church at Rome, almost 
within our own memory. 

In this Bull renewed and enlarged by subse- 
quent Popes, and especially by Paul V. in his 
Bull " Pastoralis officii;"! " All heretics (in 
" particular Lutherans, Calvinists, &c.) are ex- 
" communicated and anathematized" — so are 
" all who appeal from the orders or decrees of 
" the Pope to a General Council; all who publish 
" any statutes, decrees, &c. whereby the eccle- 
" siastical liberty is violated, or in any way op- 
" pressed, or the rights of the Holy See and of 

* Bullar. Mag. t. i. p. 718. f Id. t. iii. p. 282. 



474 INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



" any other church directly or indirectly preju- 
" diced — AH who hinder Archbishops and Bi- 
" shops from exerting their jurisdiction against 
" any persons whatsoever, according as the Ca- 
" nons and the sacred Ecclesiastical Constitu- 
" tions, and the decrees of General Councils, 
" especially that of Trent, lay down — All who 
4< usurp any jurisdictions, fruits, revenues, 
" and emoluments belonging to the Holy See, 
" and any ecclesiastical persons, by reason of 
" churches, monasteries, or other ecclesiastical 
" benefices ; or who upon any occasion or 
" causes sequester the said revenues without the 
" express leave of the Pope." — " Also on all 
" who, without consent of the Pope, lay any 
" tenths, subsidies, or other burthens on pre- 
" lates and ecclesiastical persons on account of 
" their churches, monasteries, or other ecclesi- 
cs astical goods, or who directly or indirectly 
e( assist, execute, or procure the said things, 
" or give aid, counsel, or favour to them who 
<( do; of whatever dignity, condition, or quality 
" they be, though emperor, king, &c. — All who 
" presume to invade, &c. the city of Rome. — 
" No one to be absolved from the foresaid cen- 
" sures by any other than the Pope himself, ex- 
" cept he be at the point of death." 

In 1558, the ambassador of our own illustrious 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 475 



Queen Elizabeth was told by Paul IV. that she 
was a bastard, and that England was only a 
fief of the Holy See ; that the pretended Queen 
must begin by suspending the exercise of her 
function, till the Court of Rome had pronounced 
its sovereign judgment. A Bull of the same 
Pope, " Cum ex Apostolatu,"* declares that 
all princes, kings, and the emperor, falling into 
heresy, forfeit thereby their principalities and 
empire aforesaid. And this was confirmed by 
Pius V. in his Bull " Inter multiplices."t 

Pius V. in his Bull " Regnans in Excelsis/'J 
A.D. 1570, excommunicated Elizabeth, and 
deprived her of her kingdom. This sentence 
was renewed by Sixtus V. who published a so- 
lemn Bull, in which he styles Elizabeth an 
usurper, a heretic, and an excommunicate — 
gives her throne to Philip II. and commands the 
English to join the Spaniards in dethroning 
her.§ 

The same Pope proceeded in the same way 
against Henry of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) 
the Prince of Cond6, and all their adherents, pro- 
nouncing them heretics, &c. and declaring their 
estates and dominions forfeited — absolving their 
subjects from allegiance, and charging them not 

* Bullar. Mag. t. i. p. 840. f Ibid. t. ii. p. 214. 
t Ibid. t. ii. p. 324. § Thuani Hist. i. 89. c. 9. 

I I 2 



476 



INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



to pay them obedience under pain of the greater 
excommunication * 

In 1606, Paul V. forbade the Roman Catholics 
of this kingdom to take the oath of allegiance 
prescribed by James I. (which oath denied the 
power of the Pope to destroy the King, and to 
absolve his subjects from their allegiance ; and 
further declared damnable and heretical the 
position that Princes excommunicated may be 
deprived or murdered, and that the Pope hath 
no power to absolve from the same). " Such 
" an oath," says Paul, " cannot be taken without 
" hurting of the Catholic faith, and the salva- 
" tion of your souls ; seeing it contains many 
" things, which are flat contrary to faith and 
" salvation." This prohibition was repeated in 
the following year.f 

Urban VIII. refused to Louis XIII. and Louis 
XIV. the title of King of Navarre, solely on the 
ground of the excommunication and deposition 
by Julius II. of John d'Albret, whose heirs those 
sovereigns were.J 

But the most extraordinary and most instruc- 
tive instance of the exercise of Papal power in 

* Thuani Hist. 1. lxxxii. c. 5. 

| See King James's Works, p. 25 1 . 

X Essai Hisiorique sur la Puissance teniporelle des Papes 
torn. i. p, 343. 



THE TEMPORAL R TOUTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 477 

the seventeenth century was exhibited by 
Innocent X. who in a Bull (Zelo domuus Dei*) 
protested against, and declared void, the 
Treaties of Munster and Osnaburgh, on the 
express ground " of leaving ecclesiastical pro- 
" perty in the hands of heretics, of permit- 
" ting the free exercise of their heresy to those 
" of the Confession of Augsburg, of allowing 
" those heretics to be advanced to civil dignities 
" and offices." It proceeds to state, that 
Innocent's nuncio " had protested against these 
" articles, but without effect, on the well known 
" principle of law, that no treaty on ecclesiastical 
" matters, made without the authority of the Pope, 
" is binding ; and therefore he now, in the most 
" solemn manner, abrogates these articles, as 
" utterly invalid, unjust, &c. &c. and declares 
" that no one, by whatever oath they may have been 
" sanctioned, is bound to the observance of them ." 

In the year 1682, the celebrated Declara- 
tion of the liberties of the Gallican Church was 
made. This Declaration, of which, among 
other authorities, the Edinburgh Review has 
recently said (No. 85, p. 136.) < ' that after 
" being confirmed by an Edict of the King, it 
" was registered by the Parliament, and has 
*' ever since been uniformly considered as the 
* Bullai*. Mag. torn, iv, p. 466, 



478 INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



" recognized and fundamental law of the stated 
was condemned by Innocent XL who refused 
the Bulls of Institution to some divines named 
by Louis XIV. to certain vacant bishoprics, on 
the ground of their having assisted in this 
assembly, and consequently erred in faith* 
These articles were also condemned by Alex- 
ander VIII. ; and Innocent XII. not only 
refused to grant the Bulls to the Bishops, but 
obtained from them, on the demand of Louis 
XIV. himself, a letter, in which, after expressing 
their deep penitence for having joined in the 
Assembly of 1682, they proceed to say, that 
" whatever might be deemed to have been 
" decreed in that Assembly concerning eccle- 
" siastical power and episcopal authority, they 
i( consider as not decreed, and declare that it 
" ought to be so considered."! Nay, even this 
was not all, Louis himself, in a letter to the 
Pope, makes the following distinct assurance, 
" I have pleasure in giving your Holiness to 
" know, that I have issued the necessary orders 
" that the things contained in my Edict of the 
" 2d of May, 1682, touching the declaration 

* Essai Historique, torn. i. p. 360. 

f Quicquid in iisdem comitiis circa ecclesiasticam potesta- 
tem et pontificiam autoritatem decretum censeri potuit, pro non 
decreto habeo et habendum esse declaro. — torn. ii. p. 197. 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 470 

" made by the clergy of France (to which I 
" was compelled by conjunctures now passed) 
" should not be obeyed, being desirous that not 
" only your Holiness should be informed of my 
" sentiments, but also that the whole world 
" should perceive, by a particular mark, the 
" veneration which I have for your great and 
" holy qualities."* 

Of the condemnation passed on the Declara- 
tion of French bishops, in 1682, by Innocent 
XI. and Alexander VIII. it is proper to add, 
that it was cited with strong approbation by 
Pius VI. in his Bull, " Auctorem Fidei," A. <D 
1794,f and that all the power of Buonaparte 
could not prevail on Pius VII. when a prisoner 
at Savona, in 181 1, to acknowledge the doctrines 
affirmed in that Declaration.^ 

In 1712, as is stated by the Archbishop of 
Dublin, in his evidence before the Lords,§ 
Clement XI. addressed a letter to the Emperor 
Charles VI. on some of the provisions of the 
Treaty of Alt-Ranstadt, by which certain places 
were to be surrendered to " an execrable sect." 

* Essai Historique, t. ii. p. 195. 
f Ibid. &c. t. ii. p. 223. 

% Fragmens relatifs a 1'Histoire Ecclesiastique. Paris, 
1814 p. 2G9. 
§ Lords, 74S. 



480 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

In it he thus addresses the Emperor ; " We 
" by these presents denounce to your Majesty, 
" and at the same time, by the authority com- 
" mitted to us by the Omnipotent God, declare 
" the said covenants, and every thing contained 
" therein, which are in any wise obstructive of, 
" or hurtful to, or which may be said, esteemed, 
" pretended, or understood, to occasion, or to 
" bring, or to have brought, the least prejudice, 
" &c. to the Catholic Faith, divine worship, 
" salvation of souls, the authority, jurisdiction, 
" or any rights of the Church whatsoever, to 
" be, and to have been, and perpetually to 
" remain hereafter, null, unjust, reprobated, 
" void, and evacuated of all force from the 
" beginning, and that no person is bound to the 
" observance of them, although the same have been 
" repeated, ratified, or seciwed by oath" 

In 1768, Clement XIII. published a brief on 
occasion of certain edicts issued by the Duke of 
Parma and Placentia in his own states, (states 
which belonged to him in full sovereignty by 
the right of succession, by that of conquest, 
and by the most solemn treaties, coalesced in 
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.) In that brief, 
Clement, in the plenitude of his authority, 
abrogated, repealed, and annulled, as being 
prejudicial to the liberty, immunity, and juris- 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 481 

diction of the Church, whatever the Prince of 
Parma had ordered in his edicts, and forbade 
his subjects to obey their sovereign. This 
Papal mandate further declares, " that all who 
" have published the edicts, or done any act in 
" consequence of them, those that recognize 
" the illegal power of the magistrates, &c. over 
66 ecclesiastics and church property, and, in 
" general, all that have been parties thereto, 
" have incurred the ecclesiastical censures 
" denounced by the Holy Canons, by the De- 
" crees of the General Councils, by the Apos- 
" tolic Ordinances, and especially by the Bull 
" read on Holy Thursday (In Ccena Domini), 
" that they are deprived of all their privileges, 
" and incapacitated from receiving absolution, 
" until they shall have fully and entirely 
" restored matters to their former condition, or 
" shall have made suitable satisfaction to the 
" Church, and to the Holy See."* 

In order to appreciate the full value of this 
instance, we must bear in mind that the Duke 
of Parma was himself a member of the House 
of Bourbon, and that its other royal branches 
considered this exertion of Papal vigour, as an 
experiment to ascertain how far similar preten- 

* Rep. of Com. H. of C. 1816, "on Regulation of Ro~ 
if man Catholics in Foreign States." p. 269. 



482 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



sions would be tolerated in the more powerful 
states of Europe. 

Of the Bull In Coena Domini, Cardinal Erskine, 
the "Most Holy Auditor of his Holiness," "Pro- 
" motore della Fide," in a note to Sir J. C. 
Hippesley, dated August, 1793, immediately 
before he was dispatched by the Pope on his 
mission to England, thus writes. Its publica- 
tion on Holy Thursday was " discontinued by 
" Clement XIII. (q. XIV.) out of a compli- 
" ment to some princes, to whom parts of it 
" were obnoxious." " This Ball, although the 
" formality of its publication is now omitted, 
" is nevertheless implicitly in full vigour in all its 
" extension, and is likewise observed in all cases 
" where there is no impediment to the exertion of 
" the Pope's authority : therefore it must be legally 
" looked upon as a public declaration to preserve 
" his rights."* 

Accordingly, and in compliance with the 
tenor of this Bull, In Ccena Domini, so late as in 
June, 1809, Pius VII. issued a Bull,| excom- 
municating and anathematising Buonaparte and 
all who adhered to him in his Invasion of the 
Papal States. And, lest it should be objected 

* Ibid. p. 341. 

t " Correspondance authentique de la Cour de Rome avec 
■ ( la France," &c. Paris, 1814. 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 483 

that this sentence was directed against the 
violations of the spiritual rights of the Pope, it 
is expressly stated, that " all who have acted 
" against even the temporal rights of the Church 
" and of the Holy See, all who have given 
" orders to that effect, all their favourers, 
" counsellors, and adherents, all, in short, who 
" have facilitated the execution of those orders, 
" or have executed them themselves, have 
" incurred the greater excommunication, and 
" other censures and ecclesiastical penalties, 
" imposed by the Holy Canons, &c. by the 
" decrees of General Councils, and particularly 
" by that of the Council of Trent." 

I should not do justice to the vigour of this 
proceeding, if I omitted to cite particularly the 
following sentence — " Let our persecutors, then, 
" learn once for all, that the law of Jesus Christ 
" has subjected them to our authority and to 
" our throne. For we also bear the sceptre, and 
" we can say that our power is far superior to 
" their's, unless it be wished that the Spirit 
" should yield to the flesh, that the interests of 
" Heaven should give place to those of the 
" earth. Already have so many Sovereign Pon- 
" tiffs been forced to proceed to similar extre- 
" mities against rebellious princes and kings, 
" &c. and shall we be afraid to follow their 
" example?" 

" This very intelligible allusion to Gregory, 



484 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



Innocent, &c. is followed afterwards by the 
following gracious language of forbearance. 
" But in the necessity in which we are placed 
" of using the sword of severity which the 
" Church has handed down to us, we cannot 
" forget that ice hold on earth, unworthy as we 
" are, the place of Him, who in executing justice 
" ceases not to be the God of mercy." Therefore 
he forbids any damage being done " to the 
" goods, the rights or prerogatives of those who 
<f are the subjects of these censures." But if 
it is mercy which makes him thus forbear, it is 
plain that justice would authorize him to strike.* 

* The whole conduct of Rome towards Buonaparte is wor- 
thy of close attention, and proves that the ancient maxims of 
the Vatican still continue to form its standing policy. We have 
seen above the reasons which induced Pius, in 1809, to fulmi- 
nate the censures of the Church. But it can be hardly neces- 
sary to remind my readers that when Buonaparte was in Egypt 
he had acknowledged Mahomet as the prophet of God; had 
spoken of the Koran as the object of his respect and love; and 
had even announced in one of his proclamations, that " it was 
(( predicted of him from the beginning of the world, that he 
"should put down the Cross." — (Proclamation du l er Nivose 
an 7. et Moniteur du 30 Germinal an 7.) Yet all this while 
the thunders of the Vatican were not heard. On the contrary, 
with this apostate, this renegade, this mussulman, Pius VII. in 
due time, when it suited his interests, scrupled not to enter into 
a Concordat, to transfer to him from Louis XVIII. the fidelity 
of the French nation. This was not effected without a most 
edifying exhibition of Papal duplicity. 

" Pius VII. was elected at Venice, in March, 1800, at a 
" time when the affairs of the French were at a very low ebb. 
<c From Venice he wrote to Louis XVIII. as well as to all the 
" other Roman-Catholic princes, acquainting him with his 
" exaltation to the Popedom. But on his voyage from Venice 
" to Ancona in his way to Rome, he was informed of the battle 
(( of Marengo, which had made Buonaparte master of Italy. 
C( He at first apprehended the re-establishment of the Roman 



jTHE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. *483 



But it is time to have done with this point ; 
let me only add the following recent proof of 
the continuance not only of the pretensions of 
the Popes to interfere with the temporal in- 
terests of mankind, but also of their readiness 
to assert those pretensions, whenever an oppor- 
tunity is given to them. 

In February, 1803, the Diet of Ratisbon 
overturned the political and religious state of 
certain of the German churches and chapters, 
secularized their possessions and distributed 
some of them as indemnities to secular Protes- 

C( Republic j but being set at ease on this head, and being 
<c assured by Buonaparte, through the Cardinal Martiniana, 
e< that he meant to re-establish the Roman-Catholic worship in 
" France, and having received an invitation to send agents to% 
" enter into a negociation for that purpose, he thought it was 
" ' for the interest of religion' to recognize the new Governor 
" in France, and ordered the Members of the Sacred College 
<e to write letters of compliment to its head. Therefore, when 
" Cardinal Maury came to Rome, as ambassador from Louis, 
" to present his letters of credence, Pius refused to receive thern, 
" by reason of the negociation he had resolved to open with 
" the First Consul. 

" The commencement of his Pontificate will be for ever 
" celebrated in history by that famous Concordat, in which he 
" pronounced, of his own authority, the destitution of all the 
" bishops and the extinction of all the episcopal titles in France 
" — an unheard of operation, effected without any canonical 
lc forms, and in contempt of the most imprescriptible rights of 
" the Gallican Church. If the precipitation and the imperious 
" tone in which this was accomplished bears on it the marks 
" of the despot who was pressing him — still one may see that 
" he himself was not sorry to burst asunder at one stroke the 
" barriers which separate the Gallican Liberties from the ultra - 
" montane doctrines. — The anti-concordist bishops rested on 
" the Gallican Liberties-, the Concordists had no other colour 
<c for their titles but the ultra-montane maxims." — (V. Du Pape 
et Des Jesuites.) 



484* RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

tant princes. This was the subject of many 
dispatches from Rome in 1 803, 4,5: in particular 
of an instruction to the Nuncio resident at 
Vienna, in the following terms : — 

" Not only has the Church taken care to 
" prevent heretics from occupying ecclesiastical 
" property, it has moreover established, as the 
" penalty of the crime of heresy, the confisca- 
" tion and loss of all the goods possessed by 
" heretics. This punishment is decreed, with 
" respect to the goods of individuals, in the 
" decretal of Innocent III. cap. Vergentes X. 
" de Hseret. and with respect to principalities 
" and fiefs it is a rule of the Canon law, cap. 
" Absolutos XVI. de Haereticis, that subjects 
"of a prince manifestlij heretical remain ab- 
" solved from all homage whatever, from fealty 
" and obedience to the same ; and no one, 
" however little versed in history, can be 
" ignorant of the sentences of deposition pro- 
" nounced by Popes and Councils against 
" Princes who are obstinate in heresy. We 
" have fallen on times so calamitous, and so 
s( full of humiliation to the spouse of Jesus 
" Christ, that as it is not possible to her to 
" exert, so neither is it expedient to remember, 
" these its most holy maxims of just rigour 
" against the enemies and rebels to the faith. 
" But though her right of deposing heretics from 
" their principalities, and of declaring them to 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OE SOVEREIGNS. 485 



" have forfeited their possessions, cannot be 
" exercised, could she ever positively permit, 
" that in order to make up new principalities, 
" and new possessions, for them, she should 
" herself be despoiled ? What an occasion of 
" ridicule would not the Church give to those 
" very heretics and infidels! who, insulting her 
" grief, would say that means had been found 
" at last to make her tolerant."* 

I leave these matters, without comment, to 
the admirers of Dr. Doyle, and should be 
happy to hear from any one among them, 
whether it is any longer quite impossible to 
doubt either the honesty or the accuracy of that 
prelate, when he tells the Commons, and swears 
to the Lords, that the Popes have for nine, or 
for three centuries, renounced all claim to inter- 
fere with the temporal rights of princes. 

But we shall be told that, whether Dr. Doyle 
is right or wrong in his statement, at least it is 
quite certain that the pretensions of the Popes, 
if they should interfere in civil matters, would 
now only be laughed at; that we have the 
solemn assurances, nay oaths, of the Irish 
Prelates that they would spurn any mandates 

* Essai Historique, t, ii. p. 320. 



486 WHY THE PRETENSIONS OF THE POPE 

from Rome which were inconsistent with their 
allegiance to their lawful sovereign. 

All this, for aught I know, may be very 
readily believed ; for, to say the truth, there is 
pretty strong proof that, even in Ireland, the 
Pope, acting of his own mere motion, proprio 
suo motu, as he is wont to say, would be one of 
the most harmless of all the innumerable per- 
formers on that busy stage. I have no doubt 
that the bishops would manage very effectually 
to keep him from exercising any power to his 
own aggrandisement. They have testified quite 
sufficiently their independence on the Court of 
Rome : and the Bulls and Briefs of the Vatican, 
issuing in defiance of their authority, would be 
the most innocuous instruments imaginable. 
This is apparent from the contempt with which 
they scrupled not to treat the Jubilee of 
last year, and still more from their undisguised 
resistance to the Papal Rescript, which issued 
some years ago, in favour of the promised 
Veto. 

But does it, therefore, follow, that the ancient 
and never disclaimed pretensions of the Papacy 
to a right of at least indirect interference in 
temporal matters, are absolutely nugatory? that 
a prudent government may treat them with as 



ARE STILL DANGEROUS IN IRELAND. 4$7 

much contempt, as they would the ravings of 
fifth-monarchy men, or the dreams of Muggle- 
tonians? Far from it — the Pope, though a most 
powerless principal, would be a most effective 
ally — and, as such, under the skilful direction 
of an Irish hierachy, not distinguished, like Dr. 
Doyle, for meekness, loyalty, and every peace- 
ful virtue which becomes a Christian Bishop, 
he might be enabled to bring into prompt 
and vigorous action many of those slumbering 
energies, the occasional display of which excites 
at present only a passing feeling of wonder or 
contempt. 

The truth is, that the very peculiar condition 
of Ireland renders this a matter of much greater 
likelihood, and even facility, there, than it could 
be in any other country in Christendom. Where 
the Sovereign is himself a professed member of 
the Church of Rome, he can, in modern days, 
have little to apprehend from any pretensions 
of the Pope. For, besides that the policy of 
the Vatican is commonly disposed, in such a 
case, to accept, with apparent contentment, 
just so much of deference and respect, as the 
prince may be induced to give, the people them- 
selves, satisfied with the outward demonstra- 
tions of their prince's orthodoxy, and general 
obedience to the Holy See in spirituals, are easily 



488 WHY THE PRETENSIONS OF THE POPE 

quieted in respect to any degree of hostility to 
which their sovereign may proceed in temporal 
matters. Thus it was, that the most bigotted 
nation in Europe could hear, with composure, 
that the armies of their " most Catholic" monarch 
had sacked Rome, and consigned the Holy 
Father himself to a dungeon: — thus too " the 
" most Christian" King, " the eldest Son of the 
" Church," has been able to set at nought the 
dearest claims of the Vatican, and to establish 
for his national Church a scheme of liberties, 
which Rome, when it dares, scruples not to 
treat as downright heresies. 

Again, in countries where the sovereign is at 
once Protestant and absolute, the flexible na- 
ture of papal policy readily accommodates itself 
to the necessities of the case — accepts all it can 
get with the best grace possible — consents, for 
instance, as in Russia and Silesia, that the mo- 
narch shall absolutely nominate every bishop, 
but takes care to save appearances by nominating 
the same, persons, and investing them with the 
insignia of their office, as of its own free choice ! 

In England, where (thank God!) the sovereign 
is Protestant and not absolute, and where the 
spirit of the constitution and the universal feel- 
ings of the nation, forbid such direct interfer- 
ence with the religious ordinances of a dissenting 



ARE STILL DANGEROUS IN IRELAND. 489 



Church — not only does the immense prepon- 
derance of a Protestant population, but also (I 
admit the gratifying truth with heartfelt plea- 
sure) the tried loyalty, the genuine British 
spirit, of our Roman-Catholic countrymen them- 
selves, afford a powerful security against all 
the worst exorbitances of either papal or priestly 
ambition. 

But in Ireland, where it would, unhappily, 
be idle mockery to talk of the tried loyalty and 
genuine British spirit of the great mass of its 
Roman- Catholic inhabitants, there exists almost 
every motive, and every facility, which can 
tempt an ambitious hierarchy to abuse the means 
which their religion so abundantly supplies for 
the aggrandisement of their order, and the ex- 
altation of their Church. Among these means, 
the old pretensions of the Pope, kept in due 
subservience to the interests of the Bishops, 
would be not the least effectual. 

This is not mere theory. Its truth is written 
in characters of blood in the history of Ireland 
itself: and be it always remembered, that while 
the lights and intelligence of other nations have 
been incalculably progressive, the Irish (the 
Roman-Catholic Irish multitude, I mean) con- 
tinue nearly what they were in the middle of 
the seventeenth century, in the days of Ormond 



490 NECESSITY OF SOME SECURITY FOR THE 

and RinuccinL That multitude could again be 
stimulated by an ambitious priesthood to defeat 
the honest efforts of the nobles and the gen- 
try of the land, whose wishes and whose views 
must always ultimately be for peace — and to 
replunge their country in all the horrors of civil 
war. 

Hence it is, that some effectual security for 
the loyalty and peaceable demeanour of the 
clergy, particularly of the Bishops, ought to be 
deemed an indispensable part of any plan for 
the permanent pacification of Ireland. Surely, 
such an observation cannot be deemed ill-timed, 
when the most popular and powerful prelate 
among them, who has admitted in his sworn 
testimony before parliament,* that " Insurrec- 
" tion is one of the offences, for which a bishop 
" might with great propriety excommunicate;" 
for " any revolt against the state is one of the 
" most grave of offences"— has yet not scrupled 
to declare in a public Letterf to a member of 
the House of Commons, that " the Minister of 
" England cannot look to the exertions of the 
" Catholic priesthood" in the tremendous con- 
flict which he denounces as at hand; " they 
" have been ill-treated, and they may yield for 

* Lords j p. 506. 

f Letter of Dr. Doyle to A. Robertson, Esq. M. P. p. 4. 



LOYALTY OF R. C. BISHOPS l\ IRELAND. 491 



" a moment to the influence of nature, though 
" it be opposed to grace. This clergy, with 
" few exceptions, are from the ranks of the 
" people, they inherit their feelings." — "If a re- 
" hellion were raging from Carrickfergus to Cape 
" Clear, no sentence of excommunication would ever 
" be fulminated by a Catholic prelate." 

Nor is this Letter the only proof which the 
same individual has given of the readiness of 
the present Roman-Catholic hierarchy of Ireland 
to enkindle the flames of civil discord in that 
devoted country. The Letters published with 
the abbreviated designation of his episcopal 
title,* contain more of the worst poison of sedi- 
tion, than can be found, even in these days, in 
any other writings of equal bulk. 

While, therefore, I see one of these prelates 
thus placing himself in the foremost ranks of 
the seditious array, I cannot join in the con- 
tempt, which it has been the fashion to express, 
for the proposed measure of a veto in the 
appointment to the Roman-Catholic sees in 
Ireland; and if it be wise to take counsel from 
the conduct or the language of an enemy, (as in 
all that relates to the Church of Rome, we may 



I. K. L. -—James Kildare and LejgMin. 
K K 2 



492 dr. doyle's evidence on interference 



be sure it is,) we shall find increased reason for 
hoping, that the British legislature will demand 
this security, in the great, and, on all honest 
grounds, unaccountable, reluctance of the Irish 
prelates to grant it. 

And here we are again brought to the evidence 
before the Committees, particularly that of Dr. 
Doyle, on 

INTERFERENCE IN THE APPOINTMENT OF 
IRISH ROMAN-CATHOLIC BISHOPS. 

The Committee of the House of Commons 
asks, whether, " if temporalities were attached 
" to the Roman-Catholic sees in Ireland, it 
" would be inconsistent with the doctrine or 
" discipline of that Church to admit any inter- 
" ference on the part of the Protestant Sove- 
" reign of this country in the appointments?" 
page 180. And Dr. Doyle distinctly answers, 
" It would be inconsistent with the discipline of the 
" Roman- Catholic Church to admit, in such case's, 
" the interference of a Protestant Sovereign in 
" such appointments He afterwards adds, that 
by interference, he means (t all interference, direct 
or indirect." — p. 181. 

The Committee, somewhat surprised appa- 
rently at this declaration, remind him that 



IN THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS. 403 

" arrangements of that nature are admitted in 
" some such cases, where the Sovereign is not 
" a member of the Roman-Catholic Church." 
Dr. Doyle answers, that " he knows of arrange- 
" ments of that kind, though he does not know 
" the nature of them exactly; that he is not 
" acquainted with the circumstances of those 
" other Protestant countries, but that knowing 
" the state of his own country, he would resign 
" his station in the Church rather than concur 
" in such an arrangement, though it were con- 
" sidered by the Pope practicable, or even 
" wise." 

" Were the Sovereign of this realm a Catholic" 
he adds, " I should be very averse to his having 
" the appointment of Bishops vested in him; but 
" his being of a different religion makes me 
" think, that I could not, consistently at all with 
" the principles of my religion, consent to his 
(t having any right to interfere directly or indi- 
" rectly with the appointment of bishops/' — 
Bid. 

To the former part of this sentence I will beg 
leave, in passing, to invite the particular atten- 
tion of my Protestant readers. They contain 
a pregnant intimation (somewhat incautiously 
given, I suspect) of the real extent of Dr. 
Doyle's scruples. " He would be averse even 



494 



dr. doyle's evidence 



" to a Sovereign of his own religion hlvirvg ih 
"appointment of Bishops vested in iiim-;" ih 
other words, he would not be satisfied with tiib 
state of things, as they stood in this country, 
or in Ireland, at any period of modern history. 
For never was there a time, when the constitu- 
tion of these countries (at least since they have 
been under the same rule) permitted such a 
degree of independence in the hierarchy on the 
crown, as Dr. Doyle here informs us he should 
think necessary. I will not dwell on the point, 
I will only ask the admirers of this prelate, 
whether they seriously think that the judgment 
of a person so directly opposed to the funda- 
mental principles of the British Constitution, 
do indeed deserve all the extravagant eulogies 
which have been heaped upon him. 

And here his examination on this subject 
ceases for a while. It is subsequently revived 
(page 189) by the casual mention of Quaran- 
totti's rescript, which, it will be remembered, 
conceded to the crown, under certain circum- 
stances, a negative in the appointment of Irish 
R. C. Bishops. I will beg leave to follow this 
part of the examination rather minutely, as it 
presents a peculiarly happy specimen of Dr. 
Doyle's characteristic adroitness. 

" In that rescript, was not the power of the 



OK RESCRIPT OF QUARANTOTTI. 



495 



" crown to interfere with the nomination of 
" bishops, recognized as not inconsistent with 
" the discipline of the Catholic Church V—A." It 
" was recognized by a man who outstripped his 
" authority, who was incompetent to decide on a 
" matter of so much moment: but though it had 
" happened to have proceeded from higher 
" authority in Rome, we would have acted as 
" we did; that is, the prelates w T ould, for I was 
" not then a bishop, they would have remon- 
" strated, as they did." 

But the Committee, as Dr. Doyle finds, are 
not so manageable on this subject, as on matters 
more purely theological. " Are we to under- 
" stand from you," they ask, " that this rescript 
" of Quarantotti's did not come from the see of 
" Rome?" — A. " It did come from the see of 
" Rome; but the Pope being then a prisoner 
" in France, his spiritual jurisdiction was vested 
" in certain persons, of whom Quarantotti was 
" the third; and he, by the removal of the two 
" before him, happened to remain in possession 
" of those powers, and began to exercise them, 
'? and not being at all acquainted with our affairs, 
" gave this rescript, upon an application from 
" some interested person." " He was a cardi- 
*' nal, was he not?"^ — " He was afterwards ap- 



496 



QUA RANTQTTI . 



pointed a cardinal; he had some merit with the 
" Pope, but his appointment was not the reward of 
" his conduct towards us." 

We may remark, by the way, that although 
Dr. Doyle on some occasions exhibits the most 
edifying discretion in not presuming to judge 
how others, even of his own brethren, would 
act under given circumstances, yet he now and 
then has not the smallest objection to answer 
for the actions and motives of persons, over 
whom it does not appear that he has any direct 
influence whatever. In the present instance, 
whether Quarantotti's merits in this matter of 
the rescript were, or were not, such as to entitle 
him to the purple, at least his being advanced 
to that dignity looks as if the Pope did not agree 
with Dr. Doyle in his notion of the cardinal's 
demerits. But more of Quarantotti presently. 

The Committee, being, I repeat, more intract- 
able than usual, proceed to ask, <c Whether the 
" witness is not aware, that the principle of that 
" rescript has been acted upon in the concordats, 
" which have taken place between the Pope 
" and Protestant States; that it is a doctrine 
" recognised by the see of Rome itself in treaties it 
" has made?" — Dr. Doyle, who certainly is not 
dull of apprehension, is pleased to answer this 



dr. dovle's prevarication. 497 

question in a manner, for which nothing but 
extreme dullness, or some less venial quality, 
can tolerably account. — A. " Being ignorant of 
" the circumstances of Russia and Prussia, I 
" can neither approve nor disapprove what may 
" have been done in treaties with those coun- 
" tries." 

The Committee, however, will not here be 
cajoled. They press him again in still more 
pointed terms, and limit their inquiry now to 
Quarantotti's rescript to Dr. Doyle's own coun- 
try, Ireland. " Was not the principle, upon which 
" that rescript of Quarantotti was founded, the 

principle to which you say the Catholic pre- 
dates would object?"— Still Dr. Doyle is not 
abashed : he determines to try one more expe- 
riment on the good sense or patience of the 
Committee, and has the confidence to answer 
them as follows. " Being ignorant of the trea- 
" ties, I cannot say, whether the principle was 
" the same, or not." (What had " the treaties" 
to do with the question?) Happily, however, 
the Committee are here as firm, as Dr. Doyle 
is slippery; and they put to him a question, 
from which there is no escape, but in manifest 
prevarication. " Is not the general principle 
?? in that rescript, the interference of a Protestant 



498 dr. doyle's prevarication. 



" sovereign in the appointment of Bishops?" — 
A, " Circumstances affect principles so as almost 
" to change them in their operation. I could 
" not therefore recognize the principle, because it 
" may be so modified, as to be changed alto- 
" gether in its operation, from what it would 
" be, in the view we take of it, as regards our 
" own country." 

The question, we see, is on a matter of fact, 
whether such is the general principle in that 
rescript; the answer is, that the witness does 
not himself think it proper to recognize that 
principle: — and with this the Committee are 
contented. Perhaps, indeed, they could do no 
better, than to make the witness expose, beyond 
the possibility of gainsaying, his resolution not 
to give a plain answer to any questions which 
he wished to evade. 

Let us now return to Quarantotti. He is 
made an object of contempt not only to Dr. 
Doyle, but also to Dr. Murray, who is pleased 
to call him " a very weak old man:" and the 
only apparent ground for all this indelicate abuse 
of an Ecclesiastic of their own Church, greatly 
their superior in rank and function, is his having 
forwarded this rescript to Ireland, acknowledg- 
ing the fitness of giving to the crown a veto in 



DR. DOYLE's PREVARICATION. 



499 



the appointment of Roman-Catholic Bishops. 
. >r. iJoyle, we have seen, roundly asserts " that 

he outstripped his authority in doing this, 

and that he was incompetent to decide on a 
" matter of so much moment.' 1 

Here the matter rested for a while; and if 
the Committee had depended for information 
solely on Dr. Doyle and Dr. Murray, they and 
the world would have been induced to believe, 
that this admission of a veto had never any- 
higher authority than the much slandered Qua- 
rantotti. What then must have been the feel- 
ings of the Committee, what will be the judge- 
ment of the public, when informed, that the 
Pope himself, in an official letter through the 
prefect of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Litta, 
dated Genoa, 26th April, 1815, gave his express 
and formal assent to that very measure ? This 
is stated to the Committee by Mr. Phelan, page 
484, and reluctantly admitted by Dr. Murray, 
page 650, when he is afterwards called in again 
for the very purpose, apparently, of removing 
the impression made by Mr. Phelan and other 
Protestant witnesses. 

Thus then the case stands. Dr. Doyle affirms 
that " it would be" (not unwise, not inexpedient, 
but) u inconsistent with the discipline of the Roman- 
" Catholic Church to admit any interference di- 



500 PREVARICATION OF DR. DOYLE. 

" rect or indirect of the Protestant Sovereign 
" of this country in the appointment of Roman- 
" Catholic bishops in Ireland." He says this, 
not as expressing his own private opinion, but 
as a prelate solemnly delivering the recognized 
doctrine of his Church — he says it, too, without 
limitation or restriction, without implying, or 
in any way intimating, that there is the slightest 
doubt on the subject — much less, that the lan- 
guage or practice of his Church has ever been 
contrary to it: — and yet we find, that when Dr. 
Doyle spoke thus, he knew, not only that the 
Pope has made treaties with other Protestant 
states, involving <e arrangements of that kind, 
though Dr. Doyle knew not the nature of them 
exactly;" not only, that even to Ireland a re- 
script, recognizing and admitting such interfer- 
ence in the strong form of a veto, had been sent 
from the see of Rome by a person empowered 
to execute the functions of the captive Pope- 
but also that the Pope himself had, in an official 
letter, expressly approved and sanctioned the 
granting of a veto to our own Protestant govern- 
ment. — And now let those who still doubt of 
the illusory and disingenuous character of Dr. 
Doyle's evidence look back to the questions 
cited from it above, page 493 — 5; let them see, 
whether he does not there manifestly imply, 



PREVARICATION OF DR. DOYLE. 501 



that the Pope has not given his sanction to the 
veto. Why else should he dwell on the hypo- 
thetical case, what the conduct of the Irish R. 
C. Bishops would be, if the Pope should give 
his sanction to such an arrangement? Why, too, 
should he say, or, rather, how could he say with 
truth, " T think the Pope would not sanction if?* 
Such, then, is the result of Dr. Doyle's ex- 
amination on this subject before the Committee 
of the Lower House. His exhibition of himself 
before the Lords is not less remarkable. But 
in order that it should be fully appreciated, it 
is necessary I should remind my readers, that, 
previously to the Union with Ireland, Mr. Pitt 
proposed to give an independent provision to 
the Roman- Catholic clergy, receiving in return 
certain securities which were deemed by him 
indispensable. That proposal was communi- 
cated to the Roman-Catholic prelates of Ireland, 
who, having held a meeting in Dublin to deli- 
berate on it, on the 17th, 18th and 19th of 
January, 1799, came to certain Resolutions, of 
which the following are all that are important 
to our present purpose. 

" It was admitted, that a provision, through government, 
" for the Roman-Catholic Clergy of this Kingdom (Ireland), 
" competent and secured, ought to be thankfully received. 



f Commons, p, 180. 



502 



RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH 



" That, in the appointment of the prelates of the Roman- 
" Catholic Religion to vacant sees within the kingdom, such 
" interference of government, as may enable it to be satisfied of 
" the loyalty of the person appointed, is just, and ought to be 
" agreed to. 

" That, to give this principle its full operation, without 
" infringing the discipline of the Roman-Catholic Church, or 
r< diminishing the religious influence which prelates of that 
(< Church ought justly to possess over their respective flocks, 
" the following regulations seem necessary: — 

" First. — In the vacancy of a see, the clergy of the diocese 
(( to recommend, as usual, a candidate to the prelates of the 
" ecclesiastical province, who elect him, or any other they may 
" think more worthy, by a majority of suffrages. 

ic Fourth. — The candidates so selected to be presented by the 
" president of the election to government, which, within one 
" month after such presentation, will transmit the name of the 
" said candidate, if no objection be made against him, for ap- 
" pointment to the holy see, or return the said name to the 
" president of the election, for such transmission, as may be 
" agreed on. 

" Fifth. — Tf government have any proper objection against 
<l such candidates, the president of the election will be informed 
" thereof, within one month after presentation, who, in that 
" case, will convene the electors to the election of another can- 
" didate. 

" Agreeably to the discipline of the Roman-Catholic Church, 
" these regulations can have no effect without the sanction of 
" the Holy See, which sanction the Roman-Catholic prelates of 
ec this kingdom shall, as soon as may be, use their endeavours 
" to procure." 

These resolutions were signed by the four 
Roman-Catholic Metropolitans and by six senior 
Bishops. The defeat of Mr. Pitt's project, as 



ROMAN-CATHOLIC PRELATES IN 1799. 503 



far as it regarded the Roman-Catholics, pre- 
vented any degree of publicity being given to 
these resolutions, till the year 1808. 

It will be remembered, that in May of that 
year, Dr. Milner, the accredited agent of the 
Irish Roman-Catholic prelates, authorized cer- 
tain distinguished members of both houses of 
parliament to announce " the readiness of those 
" prelates to concede to the crown an effectual 
" negative in the appointment to Irish Roman- 
" Catholic sees," and that he afterwards dis- 
claimed the authority which he was said to 
have given. It was not, however, till the fol- 
lowing September, that the prelates assembled 
in Dublin resolved, that it was inexpedient to 
give such negative to the crown ; and even then 
Dr. O'Reilly, their primate, answered the re- 
monstrances of the Roman-Catholics of the 
county of Lowth against this decision, in a let- 
ter to Lord Southwell and Sir Edward Bellew, 
of which the following is the most important 
passage: — " I am certain, that the prelates did 
" not mean to decide that the admission of a veto 
" on the part of the crown, with the consent of 
" the Holy See, in the election of the Roman- 
" Catholic bishops, would be contrary to the doc- 
<c trine of the Roman-Catholic Church, or to any 
"practice or usage essentially or indispensably 



504 RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH R. C. PRELATES. 

" connected ivith the Roman-Catholic religion:— 
" the objections, raised against a negative, are 
" of a temporary nature, resulting from existing 
" circumstances." 

Such was the language of the Roman-Catholic 
primate, in explanation of the decision to which 
himself and his brethren had come in Septem- 
ber, 1808. 

Of the discussions which followed — the state- 
ments and counter-statements — the speeches 
and pamphlets — the meetings for the purpose 
of questioning or applauding that decision, it is 
not necessary that I should say anything. But 
early in these discussions, the resolutions passed 
by the Prelates in 1799 were publicly brought 
forwards; and it is obvious, that they could 
not but form a most prominent and important 
object in the view taken by all, who bore a part 
in that long, eager, and scarcely yet terminated 
Controversy. In truth, they became, from the 
hour of their being made known, one of the 
most notorious and interesting particulars in 
the history of the Roman-Catholics of Ireland. 

These matters it has been necessary to re- 
count, in order to give full effect to the following 
sworn testimony of Dr. Doyle : — 

6( Did not the Irish Roman-Catholic bishops, 
" in 1799, and May, 1808, agree to give to this 



DR. DOYLE'S STATEMENT OF THE RESOLUTIONS. 505 

" country the right of interference in the nomi- 
" nation of bishops?" A. " I think the resolu- 
" tion to which the question refers did not go 
" so far as the question supposes. / believe 
" they resolved, that it was reasonable to afford 
" to his Majesty the means of ascertaining the 
" loyalty of the person to be appointed to sees 
" in Ireland. Now, I conceive that such means 
" can be furnished to the sovereign without 
" granting to him a right to interfere directly 
" or indirectly with such appointment; and 
" therefore / think that the bishops, ivho passed 
" the resolution to which the question refers, might 
i( not have agreed to the principle of sanction- 
si ing a direct or indirect interference on the part 
" of a Protestant sovereign with the appoint- 
" ment of bishops in the Catholic Church." 

Now this, it is manifest, was at least a very 
fortunate mode of disposing of the question. It 
did not commit the witness to any direct denial, 
and yet it would have been quite sufficient to 
get rid of the difficulty, if his examiners had 
been only tolerably accommodating. But the 
Lords (as Dr. Doyle has found in other instances) 
are sometimes very troublesome in their en- 
quiries. In the present instance they propose 
the most distressing question imaginable. " Did 

L L 



506 



DR. UOYLE's EVIDENCE ON 



" not these bishops retract that consent in 
" September, 1808, and February, 1810?"* 

Here is an unfortunate position for our witness 
to be placed in ! To deny the retractation is 
impossible ; but to admit it, after his answer to 
the last question, would be no less than to admit 
that the Roman Catholic prelates had retracted 
a resolution, " that it was reasonable to afford to 
" his Majesty the means of ascertaining the loyalty 
" of persons to be appointed to sees in Ireland." 
What could be done ? A witness of ordinary 
ingenuity would have endeavoured to slide out 
of the dilemma in some such way as this : 
" I perceive that I must have been in error, 
" when I answered the last question, and I 
" request your lordships to ascribe it to my 
" ignorance of the exact purport of the resolu- 
" tions about which you enquire." But not so 
Dr. Doyle. His spirit and resources rise with 
his difficulties ; and he manfully proceeds to 
strike the most ingenious, as well as the boldest, 
stroke which the annals of impromptu testimony 
ever recorded. 

" The retraction, I should suppose, ought to 
" be understood of the resolution before passed, 
" when taken in the sense in which your 

* Lords, p. 228. 



RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH R. C. PRELATES. £07 



" lordships seem to have understood it ; but 
" had it been understood in the sense in which 
Ci it was meant or intended, when passed by 
" them, probably they need never have passed 
" a second resolution, which would seem to 
" imply a retraction of the former." 

To comment on this answer would be super- 
fluous. And so the noble examiners themselves 
appear to have thought. But the ingenuity of 
the witness entitled him to a little consideration ; 
and, accordingly, some good-natured lord was 
pleased to cover his retreat with the following 
most satisfactory suggestions : " Can you recol- 
" lect the precise words of those resolutions V 
" 1 cannot recollect them." " You were not at 
" the time a bishop of the Roman Catholic 
'< church?" "I was not."— p. 227. 

So much for the resolutions of 1799. Dr. 
Doyle afterwards tells their lordships that to 
assent "to the Crown of this Protestant country 
" exercising any influence in the appointment 
" of Roman Catholic bishops/' or to "permit a 
" sovereign, professing a religion different from 
" theirs, to interfere with the election of bishops ," 
would be to " introduce a principle into the 
" Catholic church, that has never been found to 
" exist there before." — p. 228. 

To set Dr. Doyle right in this particular, and 
l l 2 



508 INTERFERENCE BY GOVERNMENT 



to satisfy the legislature, if they should ever 
think fit to insist on exercising such interference, 
that it is not unprecedented,* I will beg leave 
to state, on the authority of Roman Catholic 
writers, of Dr. O'Conor, and of Sandini 
Baronius, and Pagi, cited by him, that, in all 
cases, the confirmation, and, in some, the elec- 
tion, of the Popes themselves w 7 as exercised, 
with the assent of the Roman Church, by all 
the Gothic kings of Italy, whether Catholics or 
Avians, from the reign of Odoacer to the Em- 
peror Justinian ; and that the Greek emperors 
claimed and exercised the same privilege from 
the reign of Justinian to the Pontificate of 
Gregory III. A similar course is at this day 
pursued in all, or almost all, the Protestant 
states of continental Europe, as appears from 
the " Report of the Select Committee of the 
" House of Commons on the Regulation of 
" Roman Catholic subjects in foreign states," 
in the year 1816. 

Nay, it further appears from the same autho- 
rity, that our own government actually exer- 
cises this power in Canada, p. 478 ; and has 
received the thanks of the Chapter of Malta 
for " raising to the high episcopal dignity of 



* Columbanus, Let. I. p. 58. 



m THE ELECTION OF ft. C. BISHOPS. 509 



" that diocese, a native of that island, and for 
" assuring them that no other than a Maltese 
" shall ever be bishop there." — p. 486. 

Really, with all these instances staring us in 
the face, we must be permitted to feel, and 
express, some degree of surprise at the hardi- 
hood of Dr. Doyle's assertions. 

OATH TO THE POPE. 

Nearly connected with the necessity of some 
adequate assurance of the loyalty of Roman 
Catholic prelates is a consideration of the oath 
by which they are bound to the Pope. 

That oath is as follows : for I scruple not to 
burden my pages with a formula, which is, in 
every respect, most important, and cannot be 
too well known to every member of this Pro- 
testant state. 

(The parts of this oath printed in Italics are additions made 
to the form of oath prescribed in the Decretal, lib. 2. tit. 24. 
ch. 10.) 

" I, N. N. Archbishop or Bishop of the church N. will 
" henceforward be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, 
tc and the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and to our Lord N. 
*' Pope, and his successors canonically instituted. I will not in 
" council, in consent, or in deed, be accessary to their losing 
" life or limb 3 or that they be taken by wrongful caption ; or 
** violent hands, in any sort, be laid upon them ; or any injuries 
" inflicted, under any pretence whatever. Moreover, the counsel 
" which they shall entrust to me by themselves, 01 by their 



510 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



" Nuncios, or by letters, I will not disclose to any one to their 
" loss knowingly. The Roman Papacy and the Royalties of St. 
" Peter* I will assist them to retain, and defend (salvo meo 
(C ordine) against every man. The Legate of the Apostolic 
u See, in his journeys to and fro, I will honorably entertain, and 
" will assist in all his needs. The rights, the honors, privileges, 
" and authority of the Holy Roman Church, of our Lord the 
" Pope, and of his successors aforesaid, I will take care to pre- 
" serve, defend, augment, and promote. Neither will I be in 
" counsel, nor in act, or enterprise, in which any things be 
" devised against the same our Lord, or the same the Church, 
" hurtful or prejudicial to their persons, right, honor, state, or 
" power. And if L shall know any such things treated of, or 
" prepared, L will hinder it, to the best of my poxoer ; and as soon 
" as L can, will signify it to the same our Lord, or to some other 
" by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rules of the Holy 
" Fathers, decrees, ordinances, or dispositions, reservations, pro- 
" visions, and mandates Apostolic, J will observe with all my might, 
" and will make to be observed by others. When called to a 
" Synod I will come, unless I shall be prevented by a canonical 
" impediment. The Apostolic residence I will visitf myself in 
" person every ten years % and to our Lord and his successors, 
" aforesaid, will render accompt concerning my pastoral office, 
" and concerning all things to the state of my church, to the 
" discipline of my clergy and people, appertaining; and the man- 
" dates Apostolic given thereupon J will humbly receive, and with 
" all diligence perform. But if by any legitimate impediment L 
" shall be detained, all the things aforgsaid I will fulfil by a sure 
a messenger, having special commission for that purpose, out of 
" the bosom of my chapter, or another placed in a dignity eccle- 

* Regalia Petri is substituted in this modern oath for regulas Sanctorum 
Patruni in the oath in the Decretal. 

\ " Or by my sure messenger" is added in the Decretal, as also " unless 
" I shall be released by their license." 

$ Singulis annis in the Decretal. 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



511 



" siastical, or otherwise having a parsonage, or, in defect of 
" these, by a diocesan priest ; and if there be no clergy, by some 
" secular or regular Presbyter of tried probity and religion, fully 
*' instructed concerning all the things aforesaid. But, respecting 
" the impediment aforesaid, I will give lawful proofs, to be trans- 
u mitted through my said messenger to the Cardinal of the Holy 
" Roman Church, prefect of the congregation De propaganda Fide, 
ft Moreover, the possessions to my table appertaining, I will not 
(i sell, nor give, nor pledge, nor put in feoff age anew, or in any way 
" alienate, even under the consent of the chapter of my church, 
" without first consulting the Roman Pontiff. These things all and 
te severally I will the more inviolably observe, the more assured I 
" am that nothing is contained therein which can conflict with my 
" due fidelity towards the most serene King of Great Britain and 
" Ireland, and the successors to his throne. So help me God, 
" and these Holy Gospels of God. 

ct So do I, N. N. Archbishop or Bishop of the church N. 
" promise and engage." 

Of this oath Dr. Curtis, Roman Catholic 
Primate of all Ireland, is pleased to say, " It has 
" been sometimes called an oath of allegiance, 
" but that is very false, it is not an oath of 
" allegiance ;" " It is called the oath of fidelity, 
" merely to distinguish it from the oath that 
" every priest when ordained takes to the 
" bishop, because it is to a higher personage ; 
" but it means nothing more than canonical 
" obedience, the obedience which the canons of 
" the Church, or general councils, require to be 
" paid to the Pope, as head of the Church. 
" Not that we are to believe it, merely because 



512 



SALVO iAIEO ORDINE 



" he says it;' (q. what does it refer to ?) " no, 
" we may remonstrate against any thing which 
" we feel to be wrong."* 

Dr. Doyle says of the same oath,f " We 
" take the oath of canonical obedience to the Pope, 
i( which means that we are to obey him as the head 
" of the Church, according, or agreeably, to the 
" discipline as found established in the sacred 
" canons." 

Now let me request my readers to examine 
the oath, and see whether there is any thing in 
it which limits the fidelity and obedience there 
promised, to the discipline established in the 
sacred canons ? Will Dr. Curtis tell us what 
are the sacred canons, what the general councils, 
which command the particulars there recounted? 
Has he, or has Dr. Doyle, been pleased to point 
out the passages on which they rest their inter- 
pretation ? Yes ; Dr. Doyle has favoured us 
with the important clue — it is contained in the 
words "salvo meo ordiue ; which implies," says 
he, " that the obedience which we promise to him is 
" not to be understood so as to trench upon our own 
" rights as Bishops, or any rights of the church 
" in which we are bishops" 

Really these three stout words have a very 
heavy burthen laid upon them, and they are 



* Lords, p. 257. 



f lb. p. 224, 5. 



EXPLAINED. 



513 



placed in the most unaccountable of all possible 
positions to enable them to sustain it. Let my 
readers look back once more upon the oath, and 
examine whether, according to the ordinary use 
of language, any thing like Dr. Doyle's meaning 
can fairly be deduced from the little parenthesis, 
to which he does so much honour. The usual 
function of a parenthesis is to explain or limit 
the meaning of the particular sentence, or clause 
of a sentence, in which it is inserted. Accord- 
ingly, in the passage before us, the real appli- 
cation of salvo meo ordine must be sought in 
the words defendendum contra omnemhominem. 
" The Roman Papacy, and the regalia of St. 
" Peter, I will assist them (the Popes) to retain 
" and defend (saivo meo ordine) against every 
" man ;" in other words, to defend by means and 
in a manner consistent with my order as a Bishop. 
Such is the true force of salvo meo ordine ; 
which seems here to mean no more, nor less, 
than the old exemption from personal military 
service, granted to the clergy ; # and by taking 
the words in this their fair and natural order, the 
meaning of the whole becomes perfectly clear, 
instead of being, as it otherwise would be, 

* As the canons attach irregularity to the shedding of blood, 
the clause " salvo meo ordine" exempts the bishops from per- 
son;' 1 service. 



514 



ANCIENT OATH 



utterly irreconcileable with any ordinary rule 
of construction or grammar.* 

The truth is that this oath is altogether of a 
feudal character. Its very language is feudal. 
Among other particulars, the phrase nec de 
novo infeudabo, applied to the temporal pos- 
sessions there supposed, shews that the bishops 
hold their possessions as a feudal tenure of the 
Pope. The oath indeed had its origin not merely 
in the feudal times, but in the pretensions of the 
Pope to be the supreme feudal chief, of whom 
all temporal princes, even emperors and kings, 
were feudatories and vassals. After what I have 
already said I need no't detain my readers by citing 
proof of the long existence of these pretensions. 
Dr. Doyle himself admits it, in the 6th and 7th 
section of his new (C Essay." Nay, he goes 
further, he admits that this oath was first taken 
in the feudal times, though he ascribes a much 
earlier origin to it than can be conceded. He 
ascribes it to " an Englishman, Boniface, 
" Bishop of Mayence" — page 245. But the 
oath taken by Boniface (who lived in the eighth 
century) was of a very different tenor ; it was 
nothing more than a declaration " to St. Peter, 

* The Edinburgh Review is so delighted with this clause 
salvo meo ordine, and assents so cordially to Dr. Doyle's con- 
struction, that it prints it in the largest capitals. 



TO THE POPE. 



515 



" and the Pope, that he holds and persists in 
" the unity of the true faith ; that he exhibits 
" in every thing faith, purity, and co-operation 
" with Peter and the utilities of his Church ; 
" that if he shall know of any prelates contra- 
" vening the institutes of the ancient Holy 
" Fathers, he will have no communion with 
" them, but will denounce them to his Apostolic 
" Lord."* 

* Vide Baron, ad aim. 723. Pontifex eum consecravit 
Episcopum 3 Et ut ad obedientiam sibi suisque successoribus ex- 
hibendam, omnemque sacrae fidei traditionemobservandam arctius 
eum astringeret, juramentum ab eo exegit et accepit : quod 
quidem in antiquis exemplaribus ita scriptum habetur. 

i( I, Boniface, Bishop by the grace of God,, promise to thee, 
" O blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, and to thy blessed 
tc Vicar, Pope Gregory, and to his successors, by the Father, 
" Son, and Holy Ghost, the Trinity inseparable, and this thy 
" most sacred body, that I do exhibit all faith and purity to the 
" Holy Catholic faith, and in the unity of the same faith, with 
" the help of God, do continue, wherein all the salvation of 
" Christians, without doubt, is proved to be : that in no way 
" do I consent, under the persuasion of any one, against the 
" unity of the common and universal Church ; but, as I said, 
" that I do in all things exhibit my faith, purity, and accordance 
e< to thee, and to the utilities of thy Church, to whom the 
" power of binding and loosing has been given by God, and 
" to thy Vicar aforesaid, and to his successors. 

' ' Moreover if I shall know of any prelates living contrary to 
" the institutes of the ancient Holy Fathers, that with them I 
" have no communion nor conjunction, but rather, if I should 
" be able to prevent, I will prevent them ; if not, I will faith- 



516 



SECURITY TAKEN IN SPAIN 



The present is not an occasion to trace, by a 
lengthened detail, the growth of the feudal oath 
from this its feeble root to the full-grown vigorous 
plant, which presents itself to our view in the 
Roman Pontifical, and, with some inconsider- 
able alterations, in the formula now used in 
Ireland. 

But there is a matter of recent history con- 
nected with it, which must not be omitted. 
It shews pretty plainly what is the real value 
ascribed at Rome to the notable addition, made 
by Pius VI. at the end of the oath, to satisfy or 
cajole the good people of England. 

It appears (I quote from the Report of the 
House of Commons in 1816, page 313) that 
about the middle of the last century, the Court 
of Spain, notwithstanding its bigoted attach- 
ment to the Church of Rome, thought it neces- 
sary to secure the rights of the Crown against 

" fully immediately inform my Apostolic Lord. But if, which 
ff God forbid, I shall attempt to do any thing, in any way or 
"intent, or occasion, contrary to the tenor of this my promise, 
<( may I be a convicted sinner at the everlasting judgment, 
" may I incur the same vengeance as Ananias and Sapphira, 
" who dared to act fraudulently towards you also in respect to 
u their proper possessions. This form of oath likewise I, 
" Boniface, a humble Bishop, have written with my own hand, 
" and placing it on the most sacred body of St. Peter, as is 
" prescribed, in the presence of God, my king and judge, have 
" made oath, which also I promise to observe." 



AG A IX ST THE OATH TO THE POPE. 



517 



the effects of such an allegiance sworn by 
Bishops to the Pope. An order, therefore, was 
made that " they should, in their oath of 
" consecration, include the clause of fidelity to 
" the King, and of deference to his preroga- 
" tives ;" this has been effected by the following 
words added at the conclusion of the oath, 
" Salvis regaUis, et legitimis consuetudinibus, 
" usibus, concordiis, legibus, et totct subjectione 
" domini mei Ferdinandi Hispaniarum et Indiarum 
" Regis. Sic me Deus adjuvet, &c." 

This is something like a security, and as 
opposite to the miserable subterfuge adopted in 
the Irish oath, as plain dealing is to Jesuitical 
finesse. But the most curious and instructive 
particular remains to be told ; and it stands on 
the same high authority as what has preceded. 
On the restoration of the present King of Spain 
in 1814, the Pope (trusting probably to his 
Majesty's avowed and excessive deference to 
any ordinance of the Church) directed his 
Nuncio to present a Note from the Holy See, 
" wherein it was required, that the above-cited 
" clause respecting the obedience and deference 
66 to the royal perogdtives, should be omitted 
" in the oath taken by the Archbishops and 
" Bishops of Spain at the time of their conse- 
f< cration." His Holiness was, however, dis- 



518 



OATH TO THE POPE, 



appointed ; even the council of Ferdinand VII. 
in all the fervour of their devotion to Catholi- 
cism, and under circumstances the most pro- 
pitious to his suit that could be devised, refused 
to gratify him; and yet English statesmen are 
confidently asked to blind themselves to the 
dangerous character of an oath, which even 
Spain, in this its darkest day, is not content to 
endure without a real and effective limitation. 

I will not examine all the particulars in the 
oath, as it stands at present, nor state all the 
objections which might be fairly urged against 
it ; such an undertaking would require a volume 
of itself. But I must be allowed to dwell a 
little on one of its clauses, and to ask its advo- 
cates how we are to understand, and in what 
manner they will defend it. " All the rights, 
honours, privileges, and authority of the Holy 
Roman Church, of our Lord the Pope and of 
his successors, I will take care to preserve, de- 
fend, augment, and promote." 

Now, the legitimate and generally admitted 
rule of interpreting an oath, is, that it be ob- 
served in the sense, in which he, who takes it, 
knows that it is understood by him to whom it 
is taken. Accordingly, Dr. Doyle himself has 
told us,* first, in the words of St. Thomas Aqui- 

* Essay, &c. p. 164, 5. 



HOW TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 



519 



nas, " Debet juramentum servari secundum in- 
" tellectum ejus, cui juramentum preestatur :" 
and, afterwards, in his own, " This is the doc- 
i( trine of Catholics, which it is a crime to 
" depart from. An oath must be kept according 
" to the meaning of him who administers it, or to 
" whom it is sworn'' 

In the present instance, the Pope is he who 
administers the oath, and to whom it is sworn. 
According to his sense, therefore, its clauses 
are to be understood and observed. Regarding 
the matter thus, will Dr, Doyle and Dr. Curtis 
tell us, what is the sense in which the Pope un- 
derstands " the rights, honours, privileges, and 
" authority" here mentioned ? This is a matter 
of no difficult research. There are bulls upon 
bulls, from the " Unam sanctam" of Boniface 
the Eighth, down to the " Auctorem Fidei" of 
Pius VI. all which assert and maintain the 
right of the Pope to, at least, indirect power in 
the temporal concerns of States. In particular, 
the bull in Coena Domini, of which I have al- 
ready* given some account, and of which Dr. 
Doyle himself does not venture to deny, that it 
is still esteemed in force at Rome,f asserts a 
multiplicity of rights utterly inconsistent with 
the sovereignty or the independence of any 

* See above, p. 473. f Lords, p. 312. 



520 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



civil government. It is notorious, that these are 
the rights, which the Pope, the party to whom 
the oath is taken, understands to be implied in 
the clause in question, these therefore are the 
rights, which, according to Dr. Doyle's own rule, 
(and a very sound rule it is,) every Roman Ca- 
tholic Bishop at his Consecration binds himself on 
oath " to preserve, augment, and promote" 

If further evidence were wanted of the sense 
in which the Popes understand these rights, it 
would not be difficult to produce it in abun- 
dance. But I will not have recourse to any 
document, on which a reasonable question can 
be raised. I will refer to one of the most au- 
thoritative, which can be named, no less than 
the Breviary itself. It may be unknown to 
some of my readers, that Pius V. who, besides 
having burned more heretics than almost any 
of his predecessors, is notorious in history for 
renewing and amplifying the bull in Ccena 
Domini, and ordering it to be published on 
Maundy Thursday in all Roman Catholic 
churches (its publication having hitherto been 
limited to Rome); this Pius V., who further 
signalized himself by issuing the bull of excom- 
munication against our own Queen Elizabeth, 
and depriving her of her crown ; this pontiff, 
thus distinguished in history, was, about a cen- 



GREGORY VI I. SATNTF.n. 



521 



tury ago, exalted to the rank of Saint; a solemn 
Festival is appointed to his honour, and in one 
of the lessons of the day the highest particular 
in the climax of his praises is " his unconquer- 
<f able vigour in vindicating the rights of the 
"Apostolic See!" We have seen what his 
judgment of these rights was: and that judg- 
ment is accepted and hallowed in the very de- 
votions of the Church of Rome. After this, 
can we with decency be told that the Bishop, 
who swears to preserve and augment those 
rights, may understand them in as lax and ac- 
commodating a sense, as Drs. Curtis and Doyle 
would wish us to believe? 

But Pius V. is not the only Pope who has 
been canonized for his vigour in these matters. 
A name, far more eminent than his, the noted 
Hildebrand, — that Gregory VII. who claimed 
the universal dominion of the world as an 
appendage of his See, — whose whole life was 
one unceasing effort to realize this claim, — who 
was as little turned aside from the prosecution 
of his holy purpose by considerations of his 
own safety, as by a regard for the peace and 
tranquillity of mankind, — that Gregory, of whom 
Dr. Doyle himself says, that the unhappy Ro- 
dolph, (who had been set up by him to fill the 
Imperial throne, of which he had deprived the 

M M 



522 



ST. GREGORY VII. WORSHIPPED 



lawful owner,) when about to pay the forfeit of 
his crime, " confessed that, induced thereto by 
" the Pope, he had rebelled against his sove- 
" reign,"* — that Gregory, of whom Dr. Doyle 
further tells us, on the authority of the chroni- 
cler Sigebert, that " when he found himself 
" near his end, he acknowledged that he had, 
" at the instigation of the Devil, stirred up enmi- 
c( ties and strife amongst mankind, and sent to 
" the emperor to solicit his forgiveness,"! — that 
very Gregory, of whom the most charitable 
judgment which can be passed, is that he was 
a crack-brained fanatic, — was, in the eighteenth 
century, by Benedict XIII. placed among the 
Saints ! — a holy service was appointed to his 
honour, — all good Catholics were called upon 
to bend the knee in adoration to him, — and the 
worship of God himself was profaned by thank- 
ing him for giving this firebrand to the world, 
and by praying that his example might still edify 
and strengthen the Church. 

It is true, this monstrous proceeding was 
reclaimed against by every government in com- 
munion with Rome; France, and even Spain, 

* Dr. Doyle's Essay, &c. p. 53. 

f Ibid. — Dr. Murray, in bis Evidence before the Commons, 
p. 651, says the same. Baronius, it appears, denies what Sigi- 
bert affirms. 



IN ROME AND IRELAND ONLY. 



523 



expressed their indignation in the loudest terms, 
— the bull of canonization was every where on 
the continent, out of Italy, forbidden to be pub- 
lished, and the Breviaries for the use of other 
countries are not disgraced by the name and 
the worship of Hildebrand. But Rome was not 
left without one nation of faithful adherents, 
even in this wild experiment on the credulity 
of mankind. Ireland accepted the worship of the 
new Saint, and St. Gregory. VII. still figures in 
her Calendar, and has a distinguished place in her 
Breviary. 

This is admitted by Dr. Murray in his evi- 
dence before the Commons; but he tells the 
Committee, (p. 651,) " that the Church does 
" not canonize all the actions of even the Saints 
"themselves;" — " that Gregory VII. distin- 
" guished himself by the most indefatigable 
" zeal in reforming the Church, which was then 
" subject to great disorders, particularly with 
" regard to simony ; and in every other respect, 
" though he may have acted under mistaken 
" impressions regarding the particular point 
" before alluded to," (that of the right of de- 
posing monarchs,) " he was considered a most 
" holy man, and as such is venerated by the 
" Church." 

I will not stop to ask Dr. Murray, what was 

M M 2 



524 



SERVICE IN BREVIARY 



the general tenor of this pontiff's life; but I 
demand of him, what are the qualities, what 
the services to the Church, for which he was 
canonized, and which are commemorated in the 
Collect and Lessons of his holy day? Is it his 
hatred of simony, — his zeal for reformation? 
Dr. Murray knows the contrary; he knows that 
these particulars are very lightly touched, and 
that the main honours are given to qualities and 
to acts of a very different kind: and yet, as we 
have seen, he scruples not to insinuate to the 
Committee who examined him, that Hilclebrand 
was sainted, only for those merits which, if they 
were his, all the world would join in applaud- 
ing. 

But it is right, that I should give some fuller 
account (at the hazard of being tedious) of the 
religious honour paid to St. Gregory VII. in 
the Breviary of Rome and Ireland: I do so, 
because in the Breviaries generally met with, 
published for the use of other countries, no no- 
tice whatever is taken of him. 

The prayer is as follows: — "O God, the 
" strength of all who hope in Thee, who didst 
" fortify with the virtue of constancy, for the de- 
" fence of the liberty of the Church, thy blessed 
" Confessor and Pontiff Gregory ; grant to us,. 
" that by his example and intercession, ice may 



TO ST. GREGORY VII. 



525 



w bravely overcome all that is opposed to as, — 
" Through the Lord." 

Such is the prayer. In the first of the proper 
Lessons appointed for the day we read as fol- 
lows: " it is said, that when he was a boy, and 
" yet ignorant of letters, being at play in a 
" carpenter's shop, he made out of scraps 
" of wood ( God guiding his hand ) the letters 
" which formed this oracle of David — ' his do- 
<e ' minion shall be from sea to sea,' — in order 
" that it might be signified that his authority in 
" the world would be most extensive." 

Another of the Lessons I will give entire: — 

" On the death of Alexander II. being unanimously elected 
" to succeed him as Pope, though much against his will, he 
" shone forth like the sun in the House of the Lord : for power- 
■* ful as he was both in action and in speech, he devoted him- 
" self so entirely to the restoration of Ecclesiastical Discipline, 
" to the re-establishment of Ecclesiastical Liberty, to the extir- 
" pating of errors and corruptions, that since the times of the 
" Apostles no Pontiff has been known to have incurred greater 
" labours and troubles in the cause of the Church of God, or to 
" fight more manfully for its liberty. Some provinces he 
" cleansed from the stain of simony. Against the impious at- 
" tempts of the Emperor Henry he remained through every 
" fortune a bold and fearless champion. He was not afraid to 
" place himself before the wall of the house of Israel ; and 
" this same Henri/, who had fallen into the abyss of evil, he 
" deprived of the communion of the faithful, and of his kingdom, 
" and released the nations subject to his sioay from the fidelity 
" which they had sworn to him" 

" Whilst he was performing mass a Dove was seen by pious 



526 THIRD CANON OF IV. LATERANE COUNCIL 



" witnesses to descend from Heaven, and perching on his right 
" shoulder, to cover his head with its outspread wings: by 
" which it was signified, that in the government of the Church 
" he was guided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit , not by con - 
" siderations of human prudence" — " a man truly holy, the 
(t avenger of crimes, and the most strenuous defender of the 
" Church : and having thus passed twelve years in the Pope- 
<c dom, he departed into Heaven in the year of grace 1085, 
" illustrious both in his life and after his death for many 
" miracles/'* 

Such is the service recently appointed to be 
read in honour of St. Gregory VII. a Saint, 
who, rejected by every other portion of Papal Eu- 
rope, is acknowledged only in Rome and Ireland: 
and Dr. Murray, although in the habit of joining 
in this service, on the 25th of May of every 
year, affects to ascribe Gregory's canonization to 
" the extraordinary zeal which he testified in 
" reforming the corruptions of the Church!" 

The same prelate, in the same part of his 
examination, is pleased to throw a new light 
on another matter of some interest toprotestants, 
I mean, 

THE THIRD CANON OF THE FOURTH COUNCIL 
OF LATERANE, 

In which (it will be remembered) the duty of 
exterminating heretics is declared. 



* Breviar. Rom. Piati, 1721. Pars ^Esliv, p. 352. Die 25 Maii- 



PRONOUNCED SPURIOUS BY IRISH PRELATES. 527 

Dr. Murray tells the Committee of the House 
of Commons, (page 058) that " it is exceedingly 
" doubtful, whether or not that canon was ever 
" enacted in the Council of Laterane; for no 
" ancient manuscript records it;" and, being 
subsequently asked, (page 661,) upon what 
authority he supposes the canon to be not 
authentic — " It is mentioned," he says, " by 
" some historians, (and particularly Collier is 
" referred to,) as spurious, and as not having 
" been contained in any ancient manuscript:" 
but, on the Committee suggesting to him, that 
" Collier rather states that there is controverted 
" authority upon the point," he admits that 
" he has not himself had an opportunity of con- 
" suiting Collier — that he speaks merely from 
" reference made to him." 

Dr. Doyle, in his sworn testimony before the 
Lords, has not been quite so ditiident. He has 
said (page 310,) that " the Canon is not found in 
" the acts of the Council at all!" meaning, I 
really cannot presume to guess what : for it 
appears in every printed Edition of the Coun- 
cil's Acts, and in none, as far as I know, is there 
the slightest intimation of any doubt of its being 
genuine. 

Dr. Doyle also tells the Lords, that " this 
" Canon is supposed by most historians to have 



528 



dr. doyle's statement 



" been attached to the Council's Acts." Indeed! 
Will Dr. Doyle have the goodness to tell us 
who these historians are? it has been my own 
fortune in looking into historians for the purpose 
of ascertaining this fact, to find them all either 
citing the canon, or tacitly admitting its genuine- 
ness. Such is the case not only with Protestant 
Historians, but also with Dupin and Fleury. 

But Dr. Doyle ventures to name one of his au- 
thorities — " It is supposed," says he, " amongst 
" others, by the very excellent historian, Col- 
" Iyer." — My readers are by this time sufficiently 
acquainted with Dr. Doyle, to feel no surprize 
when they are informed, that this " very excel- 
" lent historian" supposes no such thing. But 
in preference to giving any remarks of my own 
on this point, I will beg leave to quote part of 
the evidence of the Archbishop of Dublin.* 
The Committee, giving credit apparently to Dr. 
Doyle's sworn statement, propose to the Arch- 
bishop the following question. Q. " Notwith- 
" standing the authorities which your grace has 
" quoted in defence of that third Canon, the 
" opinion and argument of Collier go to cast it 
" out of the Council of Laterane, to prove that 
" it never formed a part of the third Canon of 



* Lords j 457. 



CONFUTED BY ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 529 



" that Council?"— A. " I do not think they do. 
" I think, as a plain historian, he is content 
" with relating a simple fact; he rather gives 
" his own opinion in favour of the Canon, when, 
" in selecting the Canons of the greatest influ- 
" ence, he selects three only ; and this, as one 
" of those three. He says, * the English Church 
" f being represented at this Council, I shall 
" ' lay two or three of its most remarkable 
" ' Canons before the reader;' and then he 
" adds, * but here it must be said, that this 
" 6 Chapter or Canon is not to be found in the 
" ' Mazarine copy coeval with the Council, but 
"Vis transcribed from a later record:' thus 
" asserting the fact simply, that it was not 
" found in the Mazarine record, but in a later 
" one."* 

So much for this abortive attempt to prove 

* But the Archbishop explains the fact respecting even the 
Mazarine copy, in a manner, which leaves no fair doubt of the 
Canon having been originally contained in it. " The Mazarine 
" copy is stated to be, in several parts of it, mutilated : the 
" leaf torn. Accordingly, as is visible on inspection, the first 
" Canon is wanting in the Mazarine copy; part of the second 
" only is had, and part of the third. Of the third, the begin- 
" ning and end are in the Mazarine copy; but the middle is 
f * not, being as much as occupies a leaf in the codex. Therefore, 
" this particular act of the Council is not, in the ordinary sense 
" of the icord, wanting in the Mazarine copy." 



530 



EDINBURGH REVIEW. 



before the Committee, that the third Canon of 
the great Laterane Council is not genuine. The 
only convert to this notion ever likely to be 
made is the exemplary critic, who " feels it 
" his duty to investigate each fact of the case, 
" and, above all, not to take doctrines of the 
" Catholics at second-hand" — in short, the Edin- 
burgh Reviewer, who says, " Catholics do not 
" hold themselves obliged to believe in the 
" deposing doctrine upon anything declared in 
" this Canon, because it is generally considered 
" to be spurious."— (No. LXXXV. p. 141.) 

And now let me trespass on my readers 
patience, while I briefly recapitulate what these 
several personages have said on this subject. 
Delahogue had first intimated in a note to his 
Tract, de Ecclesia, page 263, (the Class-book, as 
I have before said, at Maynooth) that " some 
" Critics doubt of the authenticity of this Canon: 
" see Collyer, a Protestant writer, Dupin, and 
" Turnelius de Eccl." Dr. Murray, eagerly 
avails himself of this doubt, and produces it 
before the House of Commons; when lo! what 
was simply a doubt with Delahogue, grows to 
be " exceedingly doubtful" in the hands of Dr. 
Murray; " by some historians," he adds, " par- 
" ticularly Collyer, it is mentioned as spurious" — 
Dr. Doyle goes further. He says, that " by 



DR. DOYLE. 



531 



" most historians*' (Collyer is the only one 
whom he too names, and we have seen what 
Collyer's statement amounts to,) " by most his- 
" torians this Canon is supposed to have been 
" attached to the Councils Acts." — Last of all 
comes the northern Reviewer, and he boldly 
declares, that " the Canon is generally considered 
to be spurious." — Really it would not be easy to 
find another specimen, half so complete, " of 
" the progress of — " what I have too much re- 
spect for my readers and myself to call by its 
right name. 

But I have not yet done with Dr. Doyle on 
this subject. Not satisfied with the result of 
his endeavours to discredit the Canon before 
Parliament, he has devoted two sections of his 
recent " Essay" to the same laudable pursuit. 
He even enters into " a critical examination" 
of it, and in order to bear down all opposition, 
announces that (( he shall consult only such 
" authorities as ought not to be passed by; and 
" that the general tenor of his observations will 
" be almost copied from a few of some fifty books 
" now lying before him, which, among other 
" things, treat of this Council." This is an 
awful declaration, and makes it a matter of 
fearful odds against any one, who, like myself, 
ventures into the field without a fifth part of the 



532 



DR. DOYLE's MISTATEMENT 



same artillery. I have, however, one ally which 
is itself a host, a resolution to follow truth 
wherever she may lead me. 

He begins with saying, that " this decree 
" appears in the Acts of the Council itself as 
" published at Lyons, by Caranzan, in 1683, as 
" well as (he believes) in all others of a modern 
" date." 

It also appears, he tells us, in " an Edition 
" of the Councils published by Crabbe, the 
" Franciscan, in 1558," which Edition was, he 
says, Crabbe's second: and yet Crabbe published 
an Edition in 1538, in which the third Canon 
appears with the rest; and another in 1551, in 
which also it appears. But then, Dr. Doyle 
tells us, in an Edition (which he calls Crabbe's 
first Edition) " published in 1530, by James 
" Merlin, the Canon does not appear." Very 
true ; neither does it, I believe, appear in Dr. 
Doyle's Pastoral Address of 1822: in which, 
however, it would be equally reasonable to look 
for it. For James Merlins Edition of 1530, 
does not profess to be an Edition of all the 
Councils, but only of a very few, and the fourth 
Council of Laterane is not in the number. I 
say this, on the supposition that the publica- 
tion of J. Merlin's, intended by Dr. Doyle, is 
that which is entitled Conciliorum quatuor Ge- 



RESPECTING THE CANON OF LATERANE. 533 

neralium, Tom. I. Aliorum aliquot Conciliorum 
Generaliwn, Tom. II. Col. 1530. 

It is possible, to be sure, (but till Dr. Doyle 
produces better proof, I shall not believe it,) that 
Merlin may have published in the same year ano- 
ther edition by Crabbe, of the Councils in Gene- 
ral. But if he did, there is no mention of it in the 
edition of 1538, which nevertheless speaks of 
a Collection of the Councils in a single vo- 
lume, published twice at Paris, and once at 
Cologne. But let us suppose that one of these 
was the edition meant by Dr. Doyle, and then 
see whether the result will be more to that 
Prelate's honour. At the end of the second 
volume of 1538, is an address to the reader by 
Orthuinus Gratius, stating, that the former col- 
lection was very carelessly edited, that almost 
all things in it were corrupted, and no method 
or order observed; but "in this Collection/' 
he proceeds, " every thing is complete, and 
" drawn from the most ancient, received, and, 
" what is especially worthy of note, approved 
" copies. Read, therefore, again and again, 
" these volumes, in which you will find many 
" councils of the ancients, which to this day the 
" greatest and most learned men have been 
" unable to procure." Accordingly an index 
is given, at the beginning of the first volume, 



534 



DR. DOYLE'S MISSTATEMENT 



of the additions made in this collection to the 
Councils before published, and among them is 
the following : — " The Decrees of the Laterane 
" Council." Then follows a list of places and 
persons, who have contributed the oldest copies 
of Councils, concluding thus — " Lastly, the 
" commendation of myself and of all good men 
" is due to John Cochlaeus, that indefatigable 
" defender of the Catholic Church, who sent 
" from Misna to me at Cologne, among many 
" others, the Council of Laterane, the want of 
" which was a subject of regret to men of the 
" greatest learning and virtue." 

Thus it was, that in Crabbe's edition of 1538 
the disputed Canon appears for the first time. 
And why ? not because this Canon alone was a 
recent discovery made in the year 1537 by 
John Cochlseus, as Dr. Doyle tells us ; but 
because the Acts of the Council of Lateran, 
at large, were then for the first time disco- 
vered. 

And now what becomes of Dr. Doyle's subtle 
attempt to make it be believed, that the first 
publication of this particular Canon was subse- 
quent to that of the others ? 

But he has another string to his bow : he 
next ventures to assail all the Canons of the 
Council alike. " The truth is," says he, "that 



RESPECTING THE CANON OF LATERANE. 535 

" the Acts of this Council, or at least a great 
" portion of them, were ascribed rather to Pope 
" Innocent than to the Council itself. Platina 
" ascribes them to him ; so does Rigordus : 
" his Nepkqui, Gregory IX. does so, whilst he 
" inserts them in his Book of the Decretals." 

So then, all the while that Dr. Doyle has 
been labouring to make us believe, that this 
Canon was the production of a later age, and 
while he was eager for that purpose to avail 
himself, to the utmost, of the loss of a leaf in the 
Mazarine copy, he knew perfectly well, that 
the Canon was in existence within twenty 
years* of the sitting of the Council ! For in 
the Decretals of Gregory IX. it appears in the 
very same words in which it now stands in all 
the printed editions of the Councils. Not only 
so : but it is inserted there (Tit. vii. c. 13.) with 
this important accompaniment, which Dr. Doyle 
however forgets to give us — " Innocent III. in 
Concilio Generali. 

But Matthew Paris is cited by him to shew, 
that the Decrees of the Council were not regu- 
larly passed. " After the Council was opened in 
" the usual forms, and a discourse delivered by 

* The Council was held in 1215 ; and the Decretals were 
set forth in 1234. 



536 



DR. DOYLE. 



" the Pope, sixty Chapters or Canons were 
" read in full sitting, but which seemed to 
" many (onerosa) not acceptable, and then they 
" proceeded to what related to the Holy 
" Land. 1 ' Dr. Doyle has here again judged it 
expedient to omit part of his author's words, 
which are at least as important, as those which 
he retains, allis placdbilia, aliis videbantur onerosa 
— and which are thus applied by Dupin — " it is 
e 6 certain that these Canons were not made by the 
" Council, but by Innocent III. who presented 
" them to the Council ready drawn up, and 
" ordered them to be read, and that the Pre- 
" lates did not enter into debate upon them, 
" but that their silence was taken for approba- 
" tion." Accordingly, Dupin himself gives the 
Canons (and of course the third among the 
rest) without hesitation, or further remark, as 
the Canons of the Council : and yet Dupin, 
next to Collyer, is the principal witness relied 
on by Delahogue (the original propounder of 
the doubt) against the genuineness of this third 
Canon. 

But, after all, is Dr. Doyle sincere in this his 
new attempt ? Does he recollect that if his 
argument is good for anything, it goes (as I 
have said) to destroy the authority of all the 
Canons of this Council alike ? and then what be- 



BLUNDER OF DR. MURRAY. 



537 



comes of the authority of the Council of Trent 
itself, which actually cites by name a Canon of 
this " Great Council," (respecting confession) 
in one of its own most solemn Decrees of 
Faith?* Really, I begin to tremble for this 
great Divine's own orthodoxy. 

Must this Canon of Lateran detain us any 
longer ? I am sorry to say it must : for Drs. 
Murray and Doyle, like prudent generals, have 
a main part of their force in reserve. They 
say, that even if this Canon is genuine, it is no 
part of the general doctrine or discipline of the 
Church : that " this law was enacted to repress 
" the errors of the Albigenses, | which threat- 
" ened the existence of society itself." 

This is the most surprizing discovery of all. 
These people, against whom this Canon was 
directed, are not once named in the Canon 
itself, nor in any of the Council's acts. To be 
sure, there was a Laterane Council held forty 
years before (1179), under Alexander III. 
against these very Albigenses, and a Decree^ 
of that Council sufficiently accords with Dr. 
Murray's description of the acts of this fourth 
Laterane. But is it possible that the former 

* Sess. xiv. c. 8. 

f See Commons, p. 659, and Dr. Doyle's " Essays/' p. 93. 
+ Can. 27. Concil. Labbe. Venet. 1734. t.xiii. p. 430, 



538 



BLUNDER OF DR. MURRAY. 



Principal of Maynooth College, and the present 
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, could be 
guilty of so gross a blunder, (I will not call it 
by a harsher name,) as confounding the two ? 
Let us, however, suppose, that though the Al- 
bigenses are not named by the Council, they 
were (as is highly probable) intended. Did 
they alone fall within the Canon in question? 
Most certainly not. The Canon sets out with 
saying — "we excommunicate and anathematize 
" every heresy erecting itself against this ortho- 
" dox faith, which we have above laid down, con- 
" demning all heretics (universos haireticoi) by 
<f whatever names they are known." 

Now, then, in order to see who are affected 
by this sweeping anathema, we must look to 
that exposition of orthodox faith to which we 
are referred, and which is given in the first 
Canon " de fide Catholica." And here I have 
to announce to my Protestant readers, that 
we are all most unquestionably included : for 
among other articles of faith is that which 
first authoritatively pronounced the belief of 
trans ubs tan tiation to be necessary to salvation. 
We are all, therefore, liable to the censures 
and punishments pronounced in the third 
Canon ! And so I have done with it, I hope, 
for ever, 



COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND IIUS. 539 

Our next subject must be 

THE PROCEEDING OF THE COUNCIL OF CON- 
STANCE AGAINST JOHN IIUS. 

It has been not unusual to regard this case 
as one which proves that the Church of Rome 
has maintained the tenet, that " faith is not to 
" be kept with heretics." I do not myself 
think that this conclusion is fairly deducible 
from it, and I have expressed myself accordingly 
in my Letters to you, page 294. The legitimate 
deduction is rather, if I mistake not, the supe- 
riority of the ecclesiastical over the temporal 
power. One or other of these principles, how- 
ever, cannot but result from it. 

But let us look to the evidence : 

Dr. Murray* defends this proceeding at 
Constance by saying, in the first place, that 
" the safe-conduct given by the Emperor to 
" Hus proves, on being examined, to be nothing 
" more than a mere travelling passport, such as is 
" now given so commonly upon the continent, 
" to protect the individual possessing it from 
tf< interruption on the way;" and, secondly, that 
" the Emperor's safe-conduct could not protect, 
" and could not have been intended to protect. 



* Commons, p. 659. 
N N 2 



540 



SAFE-CONDUCT OF SIGISMUND. 



" him from the operation of the laws of a free 
" city, over which the Emperor could not be sup- 
"posed to have controul" 

I will examine both these particulars, and I 
hope to bring my observations upon them within 
a moderate compass. 

And, first, of the safe-conduct, the " mere 
" passport," as Dr. Murray calls it. It is ad- 
dressed by Sigismund ' ' to all ecclesiastical and 
" secular princes, &c. &c. to all the governors 
" and officers of cities, &c. and to the rest, our 
" and the Holy Empire's subjects and lieges — 
" We recommend in full affection to all and every 
" of you, the honourable Master John Hus, S. T. 
" B. the bearer of these presents, passing from 
" the kingdom of Bohemia to the Council of Con- 
" stance now about to be holden, whom also we 
" have received into the protection and safeguard of 
" us and the Holy Empire : desiring that when 
" he shall come to you, you, both out of free 
" will and duty, receive him graciously, treat 
" him with favour, and in things which relate to 
" the speed and security of his journey shew a 
" readiness to forward him ; also that you 
" permit himself, with his servants, horses, and 
" all other things belonging to him, through all 
" your passes, ports, bridges, lands, domains, 
" jurisdictions, cities, &c. without any payment of 



DR. DOYLE MIS-STATES THE COUNCIL S DECREE. 54 1 

" tribute, toll, or any other burthen whatsoever, 
" and, every impediment whatsoever removed, 
" to pass, stop, soj ourn, and return freely; and that 
" you of free will and of duty provide for the safe- 
" conduct of him and his, when there shall be 
" need, in honor and reverence of our Majesty, 
" Given at Spire, A. D. 1414, Oct. 18." 

Such was the safe-conduct ; and I request my 
readers to compare it with Dr. Murray's state- 
ment, that it was " a mere travelling passport, 
" such as is now so commonly given on the 
" continent." I certainly shall not labour this 
point further. 

But the main defence of the Council and the 
Emperor is rested, both by Dr. Murray, in his 
evidence, and Dr. Doyle, in his " Essay/' page 
131, on the entire independence of the city of 
Constance, where the Council was holden, and 
where Hus was burnt. Dr. Doyle, indeed, has 
the hardihood to say, that the Council in its 
" Decree declared that there was no violation 
" of faith in this case, by whatever tie the Em- 
(( peror, in giving the safe-conduct, might bind 
" himself ; whereas he had no power to preju- 
" dice the rights of the Council in giving 
" judgment in a matter of doctrine, nor those of 
" the magistrates of Constance, a free and hide- 



542 



CONSTANCE A CITY 



"pendent city, in the execution of their own 
" sanguinary laws" 

I call on Dr. Doyle to produce this decree. 
If he cannot, what must be the merits of that 
cause, which needs the assistance of such an 
artifice ? What the principles of that advocate 
who can dare to use it ? He has not here the 
palliation which might, in other instances, be 
suggested, that he was taken unawares, called 
on to answer questions on the instant, without 
time for due reflection. He has taken months 
to meditate his statement, and now voluntarily 
comes forth to publish it. 

But that statement is most unfounded. Not 
only does the Council's decree not confirm it, 
it does not say a single syllable which concerns 
the magistrates of this free city ; the tribunal 
of which it speaks, and of which it declares 
that the safe-conduct of Sigismund could not 
interfere with its jurisdiction, is " a competent 
" and ecclesiastical" tribunal. Nay, there is 
certain proof that the city of Constance was 
not in such a sense <tf free," as to exclude the 
paramount authority of the Emperor. 

Nauclerus, in his Chronicle, ad ann. 1413, 
(a writer cited by Dr. Doyle himself, "Essay," 
page 122, as one of more than common weight,) 



SUBJECT TO THE EMPEROR. 



543 



tells us, that the circumstance of " the Legate's 
" having fixed on Constance as the place for the 
" Council gave great delight to the Emperor, 
" because it was a city subject to him. But when 
" the Pope, John XXIII. understood this, it is 
" incredible how deeply he grieved, cursing 
" himself and his fortune." And Nauclerus 
himself ascribes so much importance to this 
particular that he adds, " But the will of God no 
" man can resist ; and God had already decreed 
" that there should be one fold and one shep- 
" herd ;" alluding to the deposition of John 
which should take place at Constance. 

Nor is this all. In the documents published 
with the acts of the Council by Labbe, there is 
abundant proof of the Emperor's power and 
authority at Constance. He himself says, in 
the edict by which he invites all whom it 
concerns to the Council, that " Constance has 
" been named by himself as a fit place, safe, 
" and common to all nations who may attend, 
" and in which we shall be able, according to our 
" imperial office, to protect all and every one in 
" full liberty."* 

There is moreover the form of an oath which 
Sigismund, " in virtue of his royal Majesty, 



* Labbe, Con. Veiiet. 173-1. vol. xvi. \h 793, 



V 



544 SERMON BEFORE. THE COUNCIL 

" commands the Syndics, &c. of Constance to 
" take ;" an oath which the Pope had required 
for the safety of himself and his suite. The 
syndics having taken the oath, Sigismund's 
commissary gives his sanction and authority 
to the same.* 

But, be the rights and liberties of the city of 
Constance what they may, Sigismund was the 
secular power on whom the Council devolved 
the duty of inflicting its execrable vengeance 
upon Hus ; this is rendered indisputable by the 
sermon preached before the Council on that oc- 
casion, by James, Bishop of Lodi, " Master of the 
" Sacred Palace." In it we read the following 
address to Sigismund ; " On all these accounts, 
" to thee, O most Christian King, the glorious 
" triumph hath been reserved, a triumph to be 
" celebrated in all times to come, of repairing 
u the lacerated Church, removing so inveterate 
" a schism, and outrooting the heretics." "To 
" complete this^ so holy and so pious a work, 
"thou hast been chosen by God; especially 
'* that the heresies and errors which we have 
" even now condemned, should be destroyed by 
" thy imperial sword. Destroy then all heresies 
14 and errors; and above all, this obstinate 



* Labbe, Con, Venet. 1731. vol. xvi. p. 798, 



ON THE CONDEMNATION OF HUS. 



545 



" heretic, (Hus,) through whose malignity many 
" are the places which have been infected by 
" the contagion of heresy. This sacred labour 
" is left to thee, O glorious Prince ; to thee, 
" above all, it belongs, to whom is given the 
" supreme power of justice (justitise primatus) ; 
" wherefore, from the mouths of babes and 
" sucklings, thy praises are sounded forth per- 
te petually, that thou mayst destroy the ene~ 
" mies of the Church. And may Christ Jesus, 
" who is blessed evermore, vouchsafe to grant 
" that this may redound to thy happiness and 
" prosperity. Amen."* 

Accordingly, when the process against Hus 
was ended, when he was declared a heretic, 
and the Council pronounced its decree, that 
" the Church of God having nothing more which 
" it could do, he was now to be left to the 
" secular power," Sigismund, as this secular 
power, gave his order to Louis, Elector Palatine 
of Bavaria, Grand Vicar of the Empire, to 
receive him in charge. Louis received and 
immediately gave him over to the officers. But 
while he was at the stake, and before the fire 
was yet kindled, Louis and the Count of Papen- 
heim rode up to him, and urged him to recant 
and save his life.f So clearly was his death 

* Ibid. p. 1326. f Hussit. His. I ii. p. 111. 



546 SUPERIORITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL 

the act of Sigismund, and so little ground is 
there for the shallow pretence of Delahogue 
and his Irish adherents, that, " the laws of the 
" free city of Constance, laws which the safe- 
" conduct of Sigismund could not controul, 
" were the real authority under which he suf- 
" fered." 

The truth is, as I have intimated before, that 
the main principle on which the Council acted, 
was the superiority of the ecclesiastical to the 
temporal power. This principle is recognized 
as of course by the old historians of the Church 
of Rome. In particular, Dr. Doyle's own 
authority, Nauclerus, tells us that Sigismund 
himself had scruples, and how they were over- 
come. " The burning of Hus and Jerome," 
says he, " the Emperor took much to heart, on 
" account of the safe-conduct granted to them. 
<( But the Council answered him, that he could 
te not be charged with breach of faith, because 
" the Council itself, which is greater than the 
" Emperor, not having granted a safe-conduct, 
" he had not the power to grant it against the 
" will of the Council ; a determination in which, 
" as a good son of the Church, Sigismund 

acquiesced."* The same principle had been 



* Nauclerus, vol. iii. p. 442. 



TO TEMPORAL POWER. 



547 



inculcated in a sermon by the Cardinal of 
Carnbray, who, choosing for his text " there 
' shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, 
" and in the Stars," made the Pope to be " the 
" Sun presiding over the day, that is, spiritual 
" things, the Emperor to be the Moon, presiding 
" over night, that is, temporal things."* Nay, 
so fully was Sigismund himself imbued with this 
notion, that in a letter addressed by him to 
Charles VI. of France, inviting him to send 
his ambassadors to the Council, this traitor to 
his own imperial crown adopts the same 
image : " God," says he, " has placed two 
" luminaries over the earth, a greater and 
" a less, by which the authority of the Pope 
" and the powers of kings are designated, the 
" one ruling in spirituals, the other in cor- 
" poreals."| 

So much for the proceeding of the Council 
of Constance against Hus. But Dr. Doyle is 
not content to defend the Council, without 
libelling its illustrious victim : " There was," 
he says, " scarcely any thing impious which the 
" unhappy Hus did not maintain." Impious ! 
I challenge this bold defamer to produce from 
the writings of Hus, not from the fictions of 

s L'Enfant, Hist, clu Concile de Constance, t. i. p. 77. 
f Labb. Con. ubi supra, p. 795. 



548 



HUS DEFENDED AGAINST 



his accusers, a single tenet in which the faintest 
taint of impiety can be discerned. If he refuses, 
let the shame of convicted calumny, — I will not 
measure and weigh my words in repelling a 
charge, as false as it is foul, from the memory 
of that holy martyr, — let the shame, I say, of 
convicted calumny teach Dr. Doyle in future to 
be discrete, at least, if he will not be honest. 
The tenets of John Hus " impious !" so then are 
the tenets of every true son of the Church of 
England ! for, with the exception of some 
erroneous, but assuredly not impious, notions, 
the doctrines which he held in opposition to 
Rome, we too maintain or tolerate. In truth, the 
name of Hus is one which to English Protestants 
must ever be most dear. It was from England, 
from our own countryman Wicliff, that he first 
caught the flame of pure religion ; and well and 
largely did he repay the debt, by keeping that 
holy light still burning, and transmitting it purer 
and brighter to the Fathers of our own Reforma- 
tion. Above all, by his blessed example at the 
stake, he taught a lesson which even Ridley and 
Cranmer might be proud to learn. For never, to 
human observation, was the crown of martyr- 
dom more gloriously won, never by mortal man 
was the conflict with all the powers of earth 
and hell sustained with more undaunted con- 



DR. DOYLE'S CHARGE OE IMPIETY. 



549 



stancy, more genuine Christian meekness, humi- 
lity, and charity.* Yet against this man, after 
more than four hundred years have passed since 
he paid the last dreadful price of his resistance 
to the tyranny of Rome, the intolerance of that 
Church is still, it seems, fresh and active ; it 
can calumniate, though it may no longer per- 
secute ; it can direct the envenomed pens of 
such writers as Dr. Doyle, though the pile can 
be no longer reared, and the Halls of Justice 
spurn from them the bloody code, which bigotry 
would have made perpetual. 

From the cruel and treacherous murder of 
Hus, the transition is easy to our next subject, 

THE DOCTRINE OF EXCLUSIVE SALVATION IN 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

Of all the distinguishing characteristics of 
that Church, this it is which most justly renders 
its members the objects of jealousy and suspi- 

* In his address to the Council he spoke once and calmly of 
the safe-conduct of Sigismund, which had tempted him to Con- 
stance, and a blush was raised on the cheek of his despicable 
betrayer, a blush which, recorded in history, was cited even by 
Charles V. when solicited to practise a similar treachery towards 
the Reformers of his day. Hus, when his sentence had been 
pronounced, prayed for the pardon of his enemies, who laughed 
at him for this act. of charity, 



550 DOCTRINE OF EXCLUSIVE SALVATION 



cion to a nation of Protestants. Even the claims 
of their spiritual head to a right of interference, 
whether direct or indirect, in the temporal 
concerns of states, (if they were universally 
acknowledged,) would be of far less practical 
moment, than the doctrine which excludes 
from salvation all those who dare to separate 
themselves from the Roman Church. For 
those claims must, of necessity, be limited in 
their efficacy by so many considerations of ex- 
pedience, they would be always so much 
counteracted by the spirit of national independ- 
ence, which animates every people once ad- 
mitted to the enjoyment, or even the knowledge, 
of freedom, that in any advanced state of civil 
society, little comparative danger can *be 
apprehended even from the open assertion of 
them. In truth, in the common passions and 
feelings of men, in their pride, and in their 
selfishness, the Church would here find active 
and powerful opponents ; but in those very 
passions and feelings, when it tells its children 
that they only are within the pale of Christ's 
flock, that they only, therefore, are entitled to 
the salvation which Christ came from Heaven 
to purchase with his blood, the Church will 
always have its surest support and most faithful 
allies. I repeat, therefore, whenever the 



IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. 



651 



number of the followers of that Church is in 
any degree considerable, much more when, in 
a great integral member of an empire, they 
form, as in Ireland, a majority of the population, 
it must remain a question of serious and awful 
deliberation, whether they can be safely trusted 
with any large share of political power. 

The importance of this consideration is so 
strongly felt by the more artful of your brethren, 
that in no subject are they more anxious to 
silence, if not to satisfy, the objections of their 
adversaries. Unluckily, however, for them, 
there is here no room for the exercise of their 
usual policy; the obnoxious tenet can neither be 
dissembled nor materially softened. It stands 
in the very front of their whole system ; nay, 
it makes a part of every other dogma ; for all 
are commended to the acceptance of the faithful, 
under the awful sanction of an anathema if they 
be rejected. 

With these difficulties, nothing else has re- 
mained but boldly to admit the charge, and to 
recriminate on the accuser. Accordingly Dr. 
Doyle has not scrupled to pursue this course, 
under the sanction of an oath before the Com- 
mittee of the House of Lords. 

Q. " Do you know that the doctrine of ex* 



552 RECRIMINATION ON CHURCH OF ENGLAND 

" elusive salvation in the Church of Rome is 
" preached in Ireland by your parochial clergy 
" to their flocks V A. " I think it is preached 
" by the parochial clergy of every church in 
" Ireland, as well as ours; so that in that I do 
" not suppose there is any differ 'ence between one 
" Church and another. The doctrine of exclu- 
" sive salvation is found as expressly stated in 
" the 18th Article of the Established Church, I 
" think, as in any of our creeds : besides, that 
" profession of faith adopts the Athanasian 
" Creed, which also establishes exclusive sal- 

vation ; so that I do not know of any church, 
" the ministers of which do not preach exclu- 
" sive salvation in one sense or another ; for it 
" is, in my opinion, a doctrine common to every 
" sect of Christianity." 

Of the accuracy of this statement, as far as 
relates to our eighteenth Article, my readers 
will be able to form a better judgment, after 
reading the Article itself. Its title is as follows, 
and I beg their attention to il: 

" XVIII. Of Obtaining Salvation only by the name of Christ. 

" They also are to be had accursed, that pre- 
" sume to say, that every man shall be saved 
" by the law or sect which he professeth, so 



EIGHTEENTH ARTICLE VINDICATED. 



553 



" that he be diligent to frame his life according 
" to that law, and the light of nature. For 
" Holy Scripture doth set out to us only the 
" name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be 
" saved." In other words, those are to be ac- 
cursed who presume to say, that the great work 
of redemption by Christ was not necessary for 
the salvation of man; but that men of any re- 
ligious persuasion, if they live according to 
the law or sect which they profess, and to mere 
natural light, shall be saved thereby: whereas, 
Holy Scripture tells us, " that all who shall 
be saved, of whatever sect or persuasion they 
may be, will be saved only by the name of 
Jesus Christ — only by reason of Him and His 
merits." That this is, in one sense, a doctrine 
of exclusive salvation, I am quite ready to ad- 
mit: but let us see of what it is exclusive — it 
is not of the subjects of salvation, for it abso- 
lutely excludes none, — but only of means, or 
authors, of salvation. In short, it does no more 
nor less, than exclude all other Saviours than our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Here then the whole pa- 
rallel between the churches of Rome and Eng- 
land, in respect to the dogma of exclusive sal- 
vation, as far as our Article is concerned, falls 
absolutely to nothing.* 

* In another work of his (Defence by I. K. L. p. 71) Dr. 
o o 



554 



ATHAXASTAX CREED. 



Of the Athanasian Creed, so far as the adop- 
tion of it exposes our Church to the reproach 
of being uncharitable, I do not think it neces- 
sary to repeat here what I have already said in 
my Letter to Earl Grey (p. 368). But in an- 
swer to the allegation of it by Dr. Doyle, I 
must remark, that it would, indeed, be a good 
argumentum ad homines if we condemned the 
Roman Catholic Church simply for holding, 
that the belief of some articles of faith is neces- 
sary to salvation. But this, Dr. Doyle knows 
perfectly well, is not the case; he knows, that 
humbly acknowledging our Lord's own words, 
" He that believeth not shall be damned," we 
do also acknowledge and profess, that there are 
some truths made known in the Gospel, which 
must be believed by all who hope to share 
in the salvation of the Gospel. The Divinity 
of God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, 
the distinction of each from the other and from 
the Almighty Father, and at the same time the 

Doyle has improved his chance of convicting us of symbolizing 
with his Church in this particular, by a very ingenious expe- 
dient. He has amended our Article by substituting in for ly, 
and thus makes it hold them accursed, who presume to say that 
every man shall be saved in the law or sect which he professeth, 
so that he live according to it, — a proposition which our church 
has not either denied or affirmed,, leaving its members to their 
full liberty in this particular. 



ARTICLES FUNDAMENTAL, 8cC. 



559 



Unity of their Godhead, — the Incarnation of 
God the Son in the man Christ Jesus, — the 
Atonement made by Him for the Sins of the 
World, — the Resurrection of the body, — the 
future judgment, — and everlasting life; these 
are the points of faith pronounced by the 
Church of England, in the Athanasian Creed, to 
be necessary to be believed; and of none others 
does that Church anywhere make such declara- 
tion. In short, we think that there is a distinc- 
tion between articles fundamental and not fun- 
damental, and we pronounce no judgment of 
those who hold, or hold not, the latter. 

This would be our answer, if the point in 
question were, whether we are justly charge- 
able with want of charity towards those who 
differ from us. But this is really a matter quite 
foreign from the present inquiry. The point to 
be settled is, not whether we are uncharitable, 
nor, indeed, whether Roman Catholics are; — 
but rather, laying, for the present, all consider- 
ation of their charity aside, whether they hold 
any opinions respecting the spiritual state, the 
religious hope, of Protestants of the Church of 
England, which disqualifies them from being 
entrusted with the power of legislating for that 
church, and for the constitution of which it is 
an integral part. It is, therefore, perfectly idle, 
oo 2 



55G THE CHURCH OF ROME CLAIMS 

to tell us, as we are sometimes told by men of 
high authority, that if they think us heretics, 
and on that account out of the way of salvation, 
we think them idolaters, and therefore in the 
way of damnation. For, in the first place, we 
do not think them idolaters formally, though 
we do think they commit an act which is idola- 
trous materially; and for material idolatry (as 
contradistinguished from formal) no member of 
the Church of England would pronounce so 
harshly of any professing Christian. But, se- 
condly, even if we did hold that opinion in its 
fullest extent, it would only show that we 
should be unfit to be admitted to any effective 
share in the government of a country where 
the Roman Catholic religion is the established 
religion, and, as such, most intimately united 
to the state. This, however, I repeat, is not 
the question : we are not seeking to ascertain 
whether we Protestants are fit to be entrusted 
with the government of a Roman Catholic 
state ; but whether Roman Catholics are fit to 
bear part in this Protestant government : and in 
order to settle this point, it is only necessary to 
see what they think of us and our religion. 

I hardly need to remind any one, that the 
Church of Rome being the mother and mistress 
of all churches, they, who are not in coramu- 



JURISDICTION OVER PROTEST A NTS. 557 



nion with her, are regarded not as aliens merely, 
but as rebels* and renegades; that herein she 
differs from all other churches, who look on 
those who are excluded from their communion, 
as sinners it may be, but as left to the judg- 
ment of God, with which judgment man has no 
right to interfere. To their own master they 
stand or fall. But the Church of Rome claims 
a right of jurisdiction even over those who have 
left her bosom, or have been excluded from it: 
according to her own most formal instructions 
given for the guidance of her own clergy, " it 
" is not to be denied that they are, still in the 
" power of the Church, to be called to judg- 
" ment by her, to be punished, and condemned 
" with an anathema."! 

We are told, indeed, that, as becomes a ten- 
der mother, and a most merciful mistress, she 
mourns over the wretchedness of these unduti- 
ful children and subjects, whom she is forced to 
punish. Nay, we are assured, on the oath of 
Dr. Murray,! that even when recourse is had 
to the severest censures, " when a decayed mem- 
■ f ber is cut off from the body, it is with a view 
" to his amendment." In order to prove how 

** Delahogue de Eccles. p. 246. 
f Cat. ad Par. pars I. c. 13. 
% Lords, p. 267. 



558 



FORM OF ANATHEMA . 



diligently and how tenderly this amendment is 
sought, I will beg leave to present my readers 
with a copy of the conclusion of an " anathema," 
as it is given in the Pontificale : " Whereas N., 
" at the instigation of the Devil," and so forth, 
" therefore by the judgment of God the Father 
" Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and of 
" St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all 
" the Saints: moreover, by authority of our 
" mediocrity, and by the power of binding and 
" loosing in Heaven and in Earth conferred by 
" God upon us, we separate him from the reeep- 
" tion of the precious body and blood of the 
" Lord, and from the society of all Christians, 
" and exclude him from the thresholds of holy 
" mother Church in Heaven and in Earth, and 
" we decree him to be excommunicated and 
" anathematized, and adjudge him to be damned 
" with the Devil and his angels, and all reprobates, 
" to eternal fire ; until he recover from the snares 
" of the Devil, and return to amendment, and 
" repentance, and satisfy the Church which he 
" has injured; delivering him to Satan for the 
" destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may 
" be saved in the day of judgment." This is 
among the punishments which the Church of 
Rome claims the right of inflicting on those bap- 
tized Christians, who are not of her communion : 



HERETICS ARE POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL. 559 

and, in further illustration of her sentiments on 
this important subject, I will subjoin an extract 
from her "order for reconciling an apostate, 
" schismatic, or heretic," which shews most 
plainly and avowedly the view she takes of the 
condition of us, and of all who presume to dif- 
fer from her — that we are under the immediate 
influence of the devil. After the party has 
professed his belief in each article of the Apos- 
tles' creed, kneeling on his knees, the Pontiff, 
wearing his mitre, rises from his seat, and says 
over him, still kneeling, what follows — " I ex- 
" orcise thee, O unclean spirit, by God the Fa- 
" ther Almighty, and by Jesus Christ his Son, 
" and by the Holy Ghost, that thou depart 
" from this servant of God, whom God and our 
V Lord vouchsafes to rescue from thy errors and 
" deceits, and to recall to the Holy Mother, the 
" Catholic and Apostolic Church." 

Such then is the light in which schismatics 
and heretics are regarded by this most merciful 
and charitable Church. But that all members of 
the Church of England and Ireland are account- 
ed by her both as schismatics and heretics, I 
need not add : it follows, therefore, with all the 
strictness of a syllogism, that, by belonging to 
this our Church, we are, in the opinion of the 
Church of Rome, not only cut off from all com- 
munion with the true Church of Christ, but 



560 



BOSSUET S DEFINITION 



are also cast off by God, and abandoned to the 
guidance of the devil in this world, and to a 
fellowship in his punishment in the world to 
come ! Yet they who thus think of our Church, 
claim (that is the word, be it remembered) 
claim, as a civil right, to legislate for her. — 
Whatever may be thought of the charity of 
these religionists, it is at least equal to their 
modesty. 

After this, it cannot be necessary to dwell 
on the notorious fact, that the Church of Rome 
requires it to be believed, as an article of faith, 
that salvation cannot be had by any who are 
without its pale. It is more important to 
remark, that all are without its pale who pre- 
sume to exercise the reason with which God 
has gifted them, and for the due use of which, 
as of every other talent entrusted to us by the 
same Almighty Being, if there be truth in 
his revealed word, we shall hereafter be called 
into judgment. All, I say, are ipso facto with- 
out the pale of the Church of Rome, if they 
knowingly exercise their reason in opposition 
to her decree on the smallest point that can 
be named. 

In a tract of Bossuet's, entitled " Catholicity 
" and Christianity inseparable," recently pub- 
lished in this country in the same volume with 
his " Exposition of Doctrine/' we read the fol~ 



OF CATHOLIC AND HERETIC. 561 



lowing explanation of the terms Catholic and 
Heretic. " The Heretic is he who has an opinion, 
" for such is the meaning of that word. But 
" what are we to understand by having an opi- 
" nion ? It is the following of our own fancy 
" and particular sentiment. But the Catholic is 

" Catholic ; that is universal, who, without 

" maintaining any particular sentiment, hesitates 
" not to follow the doctrine of the Church ." — p. 
171. Hence it appears, that the liberty of 
these self-called Catholics is on a par with their 
charity and their modesty — and if there be any 
truth, as, in spite of Johnson's well known ridi- 
cule, there is much truth, in the hackneyed 
verse, 

" Who rules o'er freemen must himself be free," 

how admirably qualified would they be to rule 
over the free Church of England and Ireland ! 

I have said, that all are out of the pale of the 
Church of Rome, who differ from her in any 
single point declared by her to be of faith. This 
will not, cannot, be denied. Every single 
point of faith must be believed under pain of 
damnation. Fundamental and not fundamental 
is a distinction, which not only Bossuet, but 
Dr. Doyle, scorns and ridicules. " The unity 
" of faith," says the latter, " does not admit of 



562 WORST HERESY ACCORDING TO 1)R. DOYLE. 

" more or less :"* in other words, it is no less 
a sin against divine faith, it no less excludes 
from all hope of salvation, to say, in at least 
apparent conformity to the Second Command- 
ment, " that no religious worship is due to an 
" image of the Virgin Mary," than to " deny that 
" Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," a denial, 
of which St. John expressly tells us that it is 
the spirit of Antichrist. 

But they more especially are shut out of the 
pale of Christ's fold, and cut off from the com- 
mon hope of Christians, who deny the power of 
the Church of Rome thus to pronounce defini- 
tively and infallibly in every matter of religious 
belief. As Dr. Doyle himself says, in an ad- 
dress to the " Clergy of Carlow," &c. 28th of 
August, 1825 — " it is the worst of Heresy, and a 
" virtual apostacy from the Christian reli- 
" gion to assert that the gates of Hell have 
" ever prevailed against this Church" — " that 
" is, that the pastors and people who compose it, 
" have ever, at any period, even for a single hour, 
« professed error:" — a sentence, by which 
every national church, every denomination of 
Christians throughout the world, which differs 
from Rome in the minutest point of faith, is 



* Essay, p. 259. 



ATTEMPTS TO SOFTEN THESE DOCTRINES. 563 



pronounced to be in a state of the most damna- 
ble heresy. 

It is true, that in the course of the examina- 
tion, particularly before the Committee of the 
House of Commons, there are various attempts 
made to dilute and soften this monstrous 
dogma. Among other things it is said by Dr. 
Murray (p. 228.) "it is only contumacious error 
" in faith, and an obstinate denial of an article of 
" the Catholic faith, which is called Heresy 1 ' — 
again, " with respect to Protestants," says he, 
" we do not hold that all who are not united 
" externally to the Catholic Church are to be 
" lost ; we even hope that many who are attach- 
{( ed to other bodies of Christians may ( not having 
" sufficient opportunity of becoming acquainted with 
" the true faith ) be treated with mercy before the 
" Supreme Judge." " All Protestants who are 
" baptized become, by the very act of this 
" baptism, members of the Church of Christ, 
" children of God, and heirs of everlasting life." 
" A person baptized, growing up in ignorance of 
" what we consider the true faith, and without the 
6i means of arriving at it, if he do not commit any 
" other grievous sins to exclude him from Heaven, 
" will reach the glory of God's kingdom with as 
" much certainty as any one externally united to 
" our body." This is the language of Dr. Murray ; 



564 



ERROR OF BRITISH PROTESTANTS 



and that of Dr. Kelly, Roman Catholic Archbi- 
shop of Tuam, is similar. " To constitute a he- 
" retic, contumacy in error with respect to mat- 
" ters of faith is necessary." But when this last 
mentioned prelate is required to explain what 
he means by contumacy (p. 243.) he honestly 
says, " those who, after having had a full oppor- 
" tunity of acquiring a knowledge of the truths 
M which I consider necessary to salvation, and 
" of having their error removed, if they still 
" persist, I do consider such error on their part 
" to be voluntary, and that they therefore be- 
" come contumacious" — a sentence by which, I 
apprehend, that all persons at least in all the 
educated classes of life in this country are re- 
quired to be Roman Catholics, under the penalty 
of eternal perdition. 

But Dr. Doyle's language in a work written 
in a very different tone from that of his exami- 
nation before the Committee, goes still further. 
After saying that " a man might err with regard 
<( to any truth of religion ; but he would not on 
" that account be an heretic :" he immediately 
subjoins the following important intimation of 
his opinion respecting British Protestants — " I 
" do not mean to say, whether whosoever in 
" this country leans upon invincible ignorance 
" may not lean upon a broken reed" ! (Letters 



VOLUNTARY AND DAMNABLE. 



565 



of I. K. L p. 200.) And again, much more 
plainly, in a letter addressed by him as bishop to 
certain of his Clergy, forbidding them to renew 
their disputes with members of the Bible So- 
ciety — " They profess to be seeking for truth — 
" this can only be found in the Catholic Church" 
■ — " to ascertain the existence of this Church— 
" for the infidel, signs and tongues may be ne- 
cessary ; for a Christian, the grace of his 
" baptism, and the creed which he has learned 
" at his mothers breast, is quite sufficient; and 
" to such at least as are born and educated in 
" these countries, it must be quite obvious, if 
" they be humble, pious, dispassionate, and not 
" maddened with enthusiasm, that no sect or 
" denomination of Christians existing in it (the 
" Catholics alone excepted) have not separated 
" themselves from the one Holy Catholic and 
" Apostolic Church at a certain time, and for 
" causes but too well ascertained ; and as to 
" the consequences of such a separation, it is 
" not for me, whilst addressing you, to state 
" them, or to give expression to that deep 
" affliction which the consideration of them ex- 
" cites within us." 

Now the plain meaning of all this is, that the 
great mass of Protestants in England and Ire- 
land are, because they are Protestants, in a 



566 BRITISH PROTESTANTS BELIEVED 



state of perdition ; that not only our Church is 
an heretical church, but that being such, those 
who belong to it, cannot, generally speaking, be 
esteemed other than heretics, and of course under 
the eternal condemnation annexed to heresy. 

In accordance with this is the sworn state- 
ment of Mr. Bennett (a dispassionate and judi- 
cious observer, and a friend be it remembered to 
the claims of the Roman Catholics) that " the im- 
pression which most of the sermons and exhor- 
tations of the priests (in Ireland) are calculated 
to produce is, that there is no salvation out of 
their own church ; that he has himself heard 
them preach the doctrine of exclusive salvation, 
and that the general effect upon their minds, when 
they come to the question is, that their Protestant 
neighbour is in a state of perdition" — (Lords, p. 
193, 194.) 

Nay, even their catechisms, especially But- 
lers, which is revised and recommended by the 
four Roman Catholic Archbishops of Ireland, as 
a general catechism for the kingdom, distin- 
guishes the sin of not endeavouring to know 
what God has taught from that of not believing 
what God has taught; and distinctly calls those 
who are guilty of the latter, heretics or infidels 
— "Who are they, who do not endeavour to 
" know what God has taught ?'' "They who neg- 



TO BE IN A STATE OF PERDITION". 567 

" lect to learn the Christian doctrine." " Who 
" are they who do not believe what God has 
" taught ?" " Heretics and infidels." Here we 
see is no allowance for invincible ignorance or 
involuntary error. In another part of the same 
catechism it is distinctly said, that none can be 
saved out of the true Church, and that the true 
Church is the Roman Church, of which the 
Pope, who is Christ's Vicar on earth, is the su- 
preme visible head. 

As to the plausible statement, that all bap- 
tized persons, being as such members of the 
Church, if they fall not from it by voluntary 
error in matters of faith, still continue members 
whatever be their errors — it is enough to say 
that even this cannot give to Protestants any 
hopes of salvation under the terms of the creed 
of Pius IV. to which every beneficed minister 
subscribes upon his oath : the phrase there 
used is, " this true Catholic Faith, out of which 
there is no salvation." 

But even if this were otherwise, and if " in- 
" voluntary" or " invincible ignorance" could 
be pleaded for every Protestant in the land, let 
us see how far the concession would really 
carry us. It is to be remembered then, that, 
although baptism entirely removes the guilt of 
original sin, and also of all actual sins committed 



068 PROTESTANTS HAVE NO MEANS OF PARDON. 

before baptism, yet every mortal sin committed 
after baptism can be remitted (according to the 
Church of Rome) only in the Sacrament of Pe- 
nance—that no degree of contrition, without 
that sacrament, either actually received, or in- 
tended, can wash away the guilt of such sin : it 
must also be remembered, that mortal sin, ac- 
cording to that Church, is most easily incurred 
— that no man, indeed, without extraordinary 
degrees of grace, can avoid incurring it — and 
yet, when incurred, it consigns the soul to eter- 
nal perdition, unless removed by the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, which sacrament, I repeat, 
can be had only in the Church of Rome. 

Even Dr. Murray intimates as much, though 
in covert terms, in the words which I before 
cited from his evidence before the Commons, 
page 229. " A person baptized, growing up in 
" ignorance of what we consider the true faith, 
" and without the means of arriving at it, if he 
" do not commit any other grievous sin to exclude 
" him from heaven, will reach the glory of God's 
" kingdom," &c. ; and again, with regard to bap- 
tized Protestants, " nothing can deprive them 
" of the title received by baptism to the inhe- 
" ritance of Heaven, but some actual sin f whether 
" that sin be the sin of refusing, through their 
" own fault, to accept the faith that God has 



FOR. SIX AFTER BAPTISM, 



<x revealed, or any other actual sin.'" — Dr. Doyle 
has stated that " he includes as belonging to 
" this Church, not only children, idiots, and 
" madmen, but all those who, not having them- 
" selves adopted error, but imbibed it from their 
<£ ancestors — seek earnestly to discover truth, 
<s and are ready, on finding it, to stand corrected. 
" All such, if baptized, belong unquestionably 
" to the Church, though, in external communion, 
" they are without her pale, and their errors 
" are not, in our opinion, so great an obstacle to 
" their salvation, as the want of Sacraments and 
" other aids of which by their situation they are 
" deprived."* 

Here, then, is the amount of the utmost con- 
cession, which can be made even to those whose 
involuntary error, and invincible ignorance, 
keep them out of the pale of the Church of 
Rome. They will be saved — if they do not 
commit any actual sin. But if they sin, for 
them there is no remission — the blood of Christ 
has been shed in vain — the gospel of Christ 
has been preached in vain — If they sin, they 
have no share in the common blessing promised 
to Christian sinners — If they sin, they have not 
" an advocate with the Father" — " Jesus Christ 

* Defence by I. K. L. page 67, 
P P 



570 



HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



"the righteous is not the propitiation for their 
" sins/' They have fallen from grace given in 
baptism, and to them no " place of repentance" 
is left, though they seek it with tears of anguish 
and " groans which cannot be uttered:" " their 
" broken and contrite hearts" — the Church of 
Rome hath said, (and who shall dare to gainsay 
it?) — " their broken and contrite hearts, O Lord, 
" thou shalt despise." 

Sir, when I think of these things, and turn to 
the laborious trifling* of the Committee, before 
whom such miserable, such transparent sophistry 
was played off, seemingly with success — when 
I hear, even in the House of Commons, all dis- 
tinction between the Churches of Rome and 
England, in the most vital article of all, Chris- 
tian charity — absolutely surrendered — surren- 
dered even by him, whose triumphant efforts 
in a good cause we have so often hailed with 
gratitude and delight — I cannot but deplore the 

* If it were not recorded in their Report, page 244, it would 
not be believed, that one of these volunteer Theologues was 
pleased to propound the following question : " What is the 
" distinction, which you take, between schism and heresy? is 
i( it, that the one is voluntary, and the other involuntary?' The 
Report does not state, whether the witness had sufficient com- 
mand of his muscles to answer the question with all the gravity 
which the interest of his cause required. 



SENTIMENTS OF PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 571 

lamentable state of religious knowledge in that 
class, where, above all, it is most important to 
the common good of all. For to them, as one 
of the branches of the British legislature, is 
entrusted, by the constitution of this land, the 
guardianship of their religion, — the religion of 
us, of our fathers, of our children, and, I trust 
in God's mercy, of our children's children. 
They are to legislate for the Church of England ; 
they are to preserve that most sacred of all the 
interests committed to their charge ; and, if 
they abandon it — whether by treachery — (but 
treachery will never be found in many among 
them) — or by negligence, or by ignorance, or 
by that greatest curse, which has fallen upon 
our times, a misnamed spurious liberality — in 
vain will all their other merits plead for them 
at the impartial bar of an enlightened posterity. 
History will stamp her avenging brand upon 
their names, and most deeply, and most in- 
delibly, on the most illustrious name among 
them. 

But they will not abandon it. Thank God, 
the people, whom they represent, and who long 
watched in silence, but not in unreflecting 
silence, the progress of their delusion, that peo- 
ple is not yet fully imbued with the fashionable 
folly of the day. It has raised its voice, not in 

p p 2 



572 



HERETIC XT USES FOR BIDDEN. 



the senseless clamours of a mob, but in the firm 
and dignified tone of genuine British feeling. 
To be told, that Rome and England are on a 
par in respect to religious tolerance, or intoler- 
ance—to hear an argument for the surrender of 
our fundamental laws founded on such an asser- 
tion — was an insult to that feeling, an outrage on 
truth and common sense, too gross for English- 
men to brook. They have spoken out. They 
have declared their sober, their deliberate judg- 
ment; and never yet has the British House of 
Commons heard that judgment without respect 
and reverence. 

But I return to the task before me — to trace 
some of the practical forms in which the hateful 
and overbearing spirit of Rome delights to dis- 
play its triumph over the common feelings of 
our nature. It begins even with the babyhood 
of its miserable thralls. With a refinement of 
jealous tyranny, which would be ludicrous, if 
it were not revolting, it proclaims in the rubric 
to its office of Baptism, that " parents and others 
" are to be admonished not to trust their children 
"to be in any wise suckled or nursed by heretic 
" women."* It prosecutes its wretched malice 
even beyond the limits of mortal existence. It 



* Ritual Rom, p. 24. 



BURIAL OF HERETICS. 



573 



not only refuses the obsequies of the Church to 
those whom it calls heretics, (a refusal to which 
no reasonable objection could be made,) but it 
denies them also such " maimed rites" as the 
piety and affection of surviving friends might 
contrive to render to them in a land of strangers. 

In many countries, no funeral of a Protestant 
can take place except in the loneliest hours of 
night, or morning twilight; no protection given 
to the place of sepulture; but the human corse, 
which has been the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
while living, and will be, as Christian charity 
bids us hope, hereafter " raised again in glory" — 
is interred in some open field like a dead dog.* 
Nor are these things the unauthorized acts of 
a local priesthood, or concessions to the preju- 
dice of a bigoted populace : no, they have their 
prototypes and sanction in the decree of at least 
one General Council. That of Constance, in its 
eighth session, solemnly commanded that the 

* I wish not to disparage the permission, recently, and after 
much negociation, given by the present Pope to the Protestants 
at Rome to inclose their burial-ground. I will only say, that 
those who best know all the circumstances attending this affair, 
will be least inclined to vaunt its liberality. But does not the 
necessity of negociation on such a subject, and still more the 
notorious difficulties in bringing it to a tolerable conclusion, 
prove all that is necessary ? 



574 DR. DOYLE ON R. C. BURIAL ACT. 



bones of our countryman WiclifF, whom, when 
dead, they were pleased to sentence as a here- 
tic, should be dug from the earth in which they 
lay, and cast out as vile.* The prohibition of 
the interment of heretics in consecrated ground 
is expressly enjoined in the bull of Martin V. 
" Inter cunctas,"f a bull, which gave the papal 
sanction to such portions of the Council's pro- 
ceedings, as are recognised as valid, and among 
them to its decrees against heretics. Yet, 
knowing all this, Dr. Doyle has the confidence 
to speak of the law, which permits Roman-Ca- 
tholics in Ireland publicly to use their own rites 
in burying in our churchyards, (on observing 
the lightest condition that could be devised, 
consistently with the existence of our own 
establishment) — Dr. Doyle has the confidence, 
I say, to speak of this law, as "a charter of 
" toleration for their dead, founded on the de- 
" gradation of the living." " The Catholics," 
says he, i( like one man, despised this bill — 
" their priests and prelates universally would 
" rather be condemned to labour at some tread- 
" mill, than seek a license for interment, a per- 
" mit that the remains of one of their communion 

* Labb. Con. t. xvi. p. 119. 

f Ibid. p. 754. Dr. Doyle himself cites this bull as of un- 
questioned authority. " Essay/' p. 131. 



MARRIAGES VvTlH HERETICS. 



575 



" should be gathered to those of his fathers, in 
" the vault or ground which his own religion 
" had inclosed and consecrated."* Really, 
these persons are so cockered and spoiled by 
the flattery of our liberal politicians, that they 
have not even the decent discretion to soften 
their most unreasonable pretensions. 

But I return to the practice of their own 
Church. The same odious spirit, which makes 
it a subject of grave precaution, that heresy 
be not sucked in with the nurse's milk, and 
which violates the decencies of our common 
nature in refusing the protection even of a secure 
grave to the bones of a deceased Protestant, 
has intruded itself into the dearest connections 
of domestic life, and sought to make the mar- 
riage-bed a scene of discord and polemic alter- 
cation. Had the Church of Rome been content 
to dissuade its followers from marrying with 
persons of a different communion, it would have 
deserved no censure — but it disdains so tame a 
course. Bull following upon Bull, and in par- 
ticular a papal rescript which is now before me, 
after " most deeply lamenting that there are 
" Catholics who are so maddened by an insane 
" love, as not to flee with horror from these detest- 



* Letters of I. K. L. p. 62. 31. 



576 



RESCRIPT OF THE PRESENT POPE 



" able nuptials which the Holy Mother, the 
" Church, has always condemned and inter- 
" dieted," proceeds to give high praise to " the 
M zeal of those priests who strive, by more than 
" ordinary severity of spiritual punishment, to 
" coerce and restrain all Catholics from uniting 
" themselves in this sacrilegious bond with 
" heretics;"' and " all faithful ministers of God 
" and the Church are strictly enjoined to deter, 
" to the utmost of their power, their j)eople of 
" both sexes from engaging in these marriages, 
" to the rain of their souls;' nay, " they are to 
ie make it their business'' (of course in the con- 
fessional) " to interrupt and effectually prevent 
«' them. But if (which God forbid!) it should 

happen that such a marriage shall be con- 
" tracted, every Catholic spouse (whether hus- 
" band or wife) must take most seriously to 
*' heart the duty of doing penance for the very 
" heinous wickedness thereby committed; must 
" pray to God for pardon, and must strive to the 
" utmost to draw into the bosom of the Church his, 
" or her partner, (now wandering from the true 

faith,) and so to gain a soul, the most appro- 
" priate of all methods to obtain pardon for the 
" crime committed." 

Now, by whom was this monstrous order 
framed? By the present Pope. — When did it 



ON MARRIAGES WITH HERETICS. 



577 



issue? In the spring of last year. It was set 
forth in the spring of 1825, while the Committee 
of the House of Commons was fondly catching 
the honeyed dew of peace and brotherly love, 
as it trickled from the guileless lips of Drs. 
Doyle, Murray, Kelly, and Magaurin: — nay, it 
was, for aught I know, at the very moment 
when a great British statesman was announcing 
to parliament, his glad conviction, that the 
Church of Rome had laid aside all her ancient 
bigotry and intolerance, was become as placid 
and as amiable as heart could wish; was, in 
short, no more uncharitable in its judgment of 
the people of other communions, than we our- 
selves. — But, above all, to whom was this rescript 
directed? was it to the Pope's own temporal 
subjects? or to his countrymen in Italy? was 
it to Spaniards, Austrians, Frenchmen? was it 
to the members of any state which owns his 
authority? — To none of these. — To whom, then, 
has he dared to address this shameless avowal 
of his arrogance, no less than of his bigotry? — 
To subjects of this realm — to the inhabitants 
of " the Islands in North America belonging to 
" Great Britain" — to Englishmen like our- 
selves. 

Shall I say more of the spirit of the Church 
of Rome? of its unaltered, its unalterable, its 



578 INTOLERANCE OF ROMAN CHURCH. 

inherent, its essential hostility to all that dare 
to be independent of its will? Shall I stop to 
ask whether the adherents of that Church, 
honourable and high-minded, as many of them 
may be, (and no men of any communion are 
more honourable or more high-minded, than 
the "Roman- Catholic gentry of this land,) are 
fit to be entrusted with the power of legislating 
for a nation and for a Church of Protestants? 
for men, to whom the rights of conscience are 
dearer even than those civil liberties, which 
they would yet rather die a thousand deaths 
than suffer to be wrested from them? 

Let us be no longer told, that the Roman- 
Catholic gentry partake not of the rancorous 
feelings of their spiritual rulers; — that they hold 
not the tenets which sanction them — that those 
tenets are no essential part of their religion. 
When they speak thus, we believe that they 
speak sincerely. But then they must be plainly 
told, that they are dupes; — they are dupes of 
that treacherous policy, which has distinguished 
the heads of their Church from the moment 
when it first conceived a hope of lording over 
the household of faith, and has never since been 
abandoned. 

If those tenets be not essential, let the autho- 
rity, be it what it may, which can declare what 



INTOLERANCE OF ROMAN CHURCH. 579 



is, or is not essential, renounce and disclaim 
them. If this be not done, no adequate security 
can be given to any free Protestant state against 
the arrogant pretensions, the rancorous malig- 
nity, of their Church itself. If this be not done, 
let those among them (and there are many such) 
who cherish the feelings of Christian charity, 
and respect the rights of other Christians, either 
emancipate themselves from the bonds of reli- 
gious tyranny, or candidly acknowledge that 
it is not the Crown, it is not the Heir to the 
Crown, it is not the House of Lords, it is not 
the people of England — it is the Pope, it is the 
Church of Rome itself, which bars the entrance 
of the British senate, and condemns them to 
a state of mortifying but necessary exclusion. 

The reason of this exclusion will last as long- 
as this hateful spirit of intolerance in your 
Church shall last. Whether the Pope's claim 
to power in temporals be granted or denied ; 
whether infallibility be ascribed to him, or not ; 
whether none or all of the Gallican liberties be 
asserted in Ireland, are questions of compara- 
tively little moment. In truth, we find in his- 
tory, that those who have been most strenuous 
in resisting the lofty pretensions of the Vatican 
have often been distinguished by the utmost 
excess of intolerance in their own principles 



580 



BOSSUETS PERSECUTING DOCTRINE. 



and conduct. The Council of Constance, we 
have seen, while it laboured to impose limits on 
the exorbitant power of the Pope, murdered 
Hus and Jerome, dug up the bones of Wicliff, 
and enacted canons against heretics, scarcely 
less ferocious than those of Lateran. The 
author, or, at least, the consolidator of the Gal- 
lican liberties, Bossuet himself, was the chief of 
persecutors ; he was a persecutor on principle, 
and has recorded his principle as the unques- 
tioned and unquestionable dogma of his Church. 
" The Church of Rome," says he, " is the most 
" intolerant of all Christian sects; it is her holy 
" and inflexible incompatibility' — (never was a 
word better chosen or more happily applied) — 
" it is her holy and inflexible incompatibility, 
" which renders her severe, unconciliating, and 
te odious to all sects separated from her; they 
" desire only to be tolerated by her; but her 
" holy severity forbids such indulgence." He 
has said also, " The exercise of the power of the 
" swordj in matters of religion and conscience, is 
" a point not to be called in question ; there is no 
" illusion more dangerous, than to make tolera- 
" tion a characteristic of the true Church."* 
But all this Dr. Murray resolves into meta- 

* Cited in the Committee of Lords, p. 267. • 



bossuet's persecuting doctrine. 581 



phor and figure of speech. Aye, it was in a 
metaphor, that this very Bossuet counselled 
Louis XIV. to revoke the edict of Nantes. It 
was merely a stroke of pious rhetoric, to call on 
the assembled Peers and nobles of the land, in 
God's own house, to " raise their acclamations 
" even to the vault of Heaven, and thus to 
" address their new Charlemagne, ' you have 
" 6 given stability to the true faith, you have 
" ' exterminated the heretics; this is the work 
" ' worthy of your reign, this is the glorious 
" £ distinction by which it will be known in 
" 6 history.*' " All this, no doubt, was rhetoric, 
and it was no fault of Bossuet's, if the matter- 
of-fact monarch took him at his word, and com- 
pelled many hundred thousands of his most 
industrious, most loyal, most conscientious sub- 
jects, to fly from the very soil of France, and 
seek for shelter in some foreign land, where 

* Oraison Funebre de M. le Chancelier, p. 269. Bossuet 
there tells his hearers, that the dying Chancellor in fixing the 
seal to the Edict of Revocation, said that " after this triumph of 
" the faith, and so grand a monument of the piety of the king, 
" he had no longer any care but to close his days/' 

For reference to this passage I am indebted to the speech of 
Lord Colchester on the memorable 1 7th of May, 1 825 3 a speech, 
of which I may be permitted to say, that it is not less distin- 
guished by its luminous and powerful argument, than by the 
rich store of valuable information which it contains. 



582 LOYALTY OF IRISH ROMAX-CATHOLXCS. 



figures of speech are less potential, and meta- 
phors do no murder. 

But Ireland, too, is a land of metaphors. 
" Rhetorical artifices" are as common there as 
they have ever been elsewhere ; and the prac- 
tical figures of speech which its history records, 
might rival the choicest effusion from the school 
of Loyola or Bossuet. The following is an in- 
stance from the Memoirs of Lord Orrery : — 

" The Irish (Roman Catholics) had presented to his Ma- 
" jesty (King Charles II. after his restoration) a petition, 
" wherein they remonstrated their great oppression, and their 
" loyalty in the wars, begging to be restored to their estates and 
<( liberties, unjustly taken away from them. The English (in 
<c Ireland) had early notice of this petition, and solicited that 
" there might be a fair hearing allowed at the Council Board 
" in England, by deputies on both sides ; which reasonable re- 
" quest was soon granted, and the day of hearing appointed •** 
" which being come, his Majesty was pleased to afford his pre- 
" sence, and with him the Duke of Ormond, Lord Chancellor, 
<e and several others of great quality." " Lord Orrery pro- 
" duced a paper, and desired it might be shewn to Plunket and 
" the other Irish commissioners, to know, whether they would 
" own the names there subscribed to be their hands. Plunket 
" and the rest seeing the paper, acknowledged they were their 
" hands. Then my Lord desired the paper might be read, 
" which accordingly was done ; and it appeared to be an order, 
" or declaration, made at the Irish Supreme Council, wherein 
" they declared unanimously to prosecute the Lord of Ormond, 
" their Lord Lieutenant, and his party, with fire and sword.'' 
" Then his Lordship delivered another paper to his Majesty, 



LOYALTY OF IRISH R. C. BISHOPS. 



583 



" desiring the gentlemen of the Irish commission to declare 
" whether the names there subscribed, also were not theirs ? 
" They seeing it, could not deny it was their hand. Lord Or- 
" rery desired it might be read j and the paper appeared to be 
" instructions to Sir Nicholas Plunket and one more" (the Ro- 
man Bishop of Ferns ) " to go to the Pope, and in their names 
" (calling themselves the Supreme Council of Ireland) to offer 
" that kingdom to his Holiness; and if he refused, then to offer it 
" to the King of Spain; if he refused it , to the King of France ; 
" if he refused it, to the Duke of Lorraine ; and if he refused it, 
" then to any other Catholic Prince."— y. 32—34. 

Such was at that time the meaning of the 
highly figurative phrase, Irish " loyalty in the 
'* wars," rendered into plain English. 

My next extract shall be from the preamble 
of the 9th William III. c. 1.* a prince and a pe- 
riod, to which some authority was wont to be 
ascribed. It commences thus : " Whereas it is 
" notoriously known that all the late rebellions 
" have been contrived, promoted, and carried on by 
" Popish Archbishops, Bishops, Jesuits, and other 
" ecclesiastical persons of the Romish Clergy." 

In the journals of the Irish House of Commons, 
A.D. 1733 (p. 47. )| it is recorded, that from a 
deposition on oath, made before a Committee of 
that House, and corroborated by collateral evi- 
dence, it appears, that " the Pope (Benedict 

* Irish Statutes. 

t Cited in Commons, p. 542, and Appendix, S.")0. 



584 



LOYALTY OF IRISH R. C. BISHOPS. 



" XIII.) had complied with the requests of the 
" archbishops and bishops of Ireland, and that his 
" Holiness had sent an Indulgence for ten 
" years, in order to raise a sum of money to be 
" speedily applied to restore King James the 
" Third to his right, and put his present Ma- 
" jesty (George II.) and all the royal family to 
" the sword." 

By the sworn evidence of Dr. James Mac- 
ne v in before the Committee of Irish House of 
Lords, in 1798, it is stated to have been part 
of the instructions from the Executive Directory 
of the Irish Union to their accredited agent 
with the French Directory — " That the Catholic 
" Priests had ceased to be alarmed at the 
" calumnies which had been propagated of 
" French irreligion, and were well affected to the 
"cause: that some of them had rendered great 
" service in propagating with discreet zeal the 
" system of the Irish Union."*" There was also 
respectable sworn testimony that " Dr. Caul- 
"field, Romish Bishop of Ferns, blessed the pike- 
" men, as they were proceeding to massacre the 
" Protestants on the bridge of Wexford." One 
Dease, a Popish priest, who was taken with 
French arms in his possession, declared upon 

* Journals of Irish House of Lords, A.D. 1/98. p. 155, 



DR. DOYLE S SINCERITY. 



585 



oath, that some time before the French landed, 
the Roman- Catholic " bishop of Killala, Dr. 

Bellew, ordered his clergy, at a general meeting 
" to join and assist them."* 

These various statements will help us to 
understand the bold figure of speech, employed 
in the following passage of an address to his 
present Majesty, when Prince Regent — " No 
u portion of his Majesty's subjects is, or has at 
" any time been, more eminently distinguished for 
" pure, conscientious, and disinterested loyalty, 
" than the Roman Catholic prelates of Ireland.'^ 

But it is time to notice a few of Dr. Doyle's 
similar figures ; they certainly are not among 
the least curious, which the records of Irish 
affairs supply. " I never," says he to the Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, (p. 210.) " I 
" never spoke without sincerity ;" and in his recent 
Essay on Catholic Claims (p. 103.) we read as 
follows— "a desire to equivocate or obscure the 
*? truth, by casuistry, could never find a place in my 
" mind." Now let me illustrate these sayings 
of his by one or two instances. 

* Musgrave, Hist, ii. p. 482. 171. 

t I cite this and two or three preceding instances from the 
appendix to a valuable pamphlet, entitled " Dangers with 
" which England and Ireland are now menaced/' &c. — Riving- 
tons, 1817. 

Q Q, 



586 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 

I. It will be recollected that the prophesies of 
Pastorini had ventured to fix the downfal of the 
Protestant cause, and the destruction of the 
Protestant princes and people, for the year 
1825. These prophesies, it was known, had 
been circulated in some degree, and were sup- 
posed to have produced some effect, whether 
more or less, on the easily excited minds of the 
Irish populace : and the Committee of the 
House of Lords availed themselves of the exa- 
mination of Dr. Doyle to endeavour to ascertain 
the extent of the mischief thus produced. Ac- 
cordingly, they ask Dr. Doyle " whether they 
" have been circulated extensively, on a sepa- 
i( rate sheet, among the peasantry of Ireland ?" 
His answer is as follows : " I do not know ; the 
" book is a large one ; that there may have been 
" an extract of that kind printed and circulated 
" among the peasantry, I have little doubt; at 
V the same time I am very confident, that, ij 
" done, it has been done lately, by persons in the 
" South* to excite dissention in Ireland, and to 
" produce appearances of disturbance."^ He after- 
wards tells their lordships, that u he has himself 
" discountenanced the publication, and endea- 

* And therefore at a great distance from Dr. Doyle's own 
diocese, which is not in the South, 
t Lords, 247. 



ON PASTORINl's PROPHESIES. 587 

" voured successfully to prevent altogether the 
" reading of it ; in fine, that he is persuaded 
" there is no one in his diocese, who gives the least 
" countenance to it." Mr. O'Connell's account 
(p. 167.) is still more satisfactory : he " thinks 
" that no effect has been produced upon the 
" lower orders of the Irish Catholics by what 
" are called Pastorini's Prophesies." 

Now, after the concurrent attestations of two 
such respectable witnesses, speaking, be it re- 
membered, on their oath, could scepticism itself 
any longer suggest a doubt, whether the pro- 
phesies of Pastorini have not been utterly disre- 
garded? 

Thus the affair stood : when two months 
afterwards it was deemed expedient to produce 
evidence before the Committee of the other 
House, to prove, not the loyalty of Dr. Doyle, 
(that, of course, could not be called into ques- 
tion) but the extent of his claim on the gratitude 
of Government, and of his country, for his labo- 
rious and successful exertions in preserving the 
public peace. I need not remind you, Sir, who 
are a lawyer, how often the most promising- 
cause has been lost by proving too much ! This 
has, unfortunately, been the case in the present 
instance. The production of Dr. Doyle's 
" Pastoral Letter," addressed to his diocese in 

Q Q 2 



588 DK. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



the commencement of the late disturbances, 
and dated Nov. 19th, 1822, which letter, we 
are told, " produced a very powerful and happy 
" effect on the minds of the people" — the produc- 
tion, I repeat, of this Pastoral, has placed that 
prelate in the very awkward position, of its being 
impossible to believe more than half of what he 
has said on these prophesies ; and it has, more- 
over, left us quite in the dark, as to which half 
we are to believe, unless common fame, and 
common sense, shall be thought to have decided 
against his sworn testimony before the Lords, 
and in favour of what he delivered to those who 
must themselves have known, whether his as- 
sertions were true or false. 

I shall have occasion to recur to this Pastoral 
Letter again presently ; meanwhile I present my 
readers with the following extracts from it 
respecting Pastorini's Prophesies, which I re- 
quest them to compare with Dr. Doyle's evi- 
dence cited above. 

" And what were the motives/' says this prelate to his erring 
people, " which influenced you to act thus, and even to profane 
" the awful name of God, and rashly to call Him to attest your 
<c wicked purposes ?"* <c Your faith in prophesies. This, dearest 
i( brethren, is a subject, which we find it difficult to treat with 
<e becoming seriousness, and yet it is one, which has produced 

* Commons,, p. 667. 



ON PASTORINl's PROPHESIES. 



589 



" among you the most deplorable effects. I have been credibly 
" informed, that during the course of the last year, when great 
" numbers of you, yielding to our remonstrance, and those of our 
" clergy, had withdrawn yourselves from those mischievous 
u associations, you were prevailed on to return to them, ex- 
" cited by some absurd stories called ' Prophesies,' and which 
" were disseminated amongst you by designing and wicked men. 
" There have been, to our own knowledge, instances of persons 
" neglecting their domestic concerns, and abandoning their 
u families to misery and want, through a vain hope, grounded 
** on some supposed prophesy, that mighty changes were just 
" approaching. For more than half a century it was predicted, 
" that George the Fourth would not reign ; and his very ap- 
" pearance amongst you was scarcely sufficient to dispel the 
" illusion. Such excessive credulity on your parts, and such a 
" superstitious attachment to fables, a thousand times belied, 
<( is a melancholy proof of the facility with which you may be 
" seduced by knaves,'' &c. 

" But you will tell me, that your prophesy is not of this kind, 
" that it is derived from the sacred Scriptures, as they are ex- 
16 plained in the book of Pastorini, called ' the History of the 
" f Christian Church that book, dearest brethren, has been 
** perverted to very different ends from those which the pious* 
" author intended." " Bishop Walmsley, commonly called 
" Pastorini, and the author of your favourite prophesy, wished,'' 
&c. 

After this, what shall we say to Dr. Doyle's 
attesting upon his oath, that 44 he does not know, 

* Dr. Doyle told the Lords, and took credit with them 
accordingly, that in a more recent pastoral he had called this 
same prophesy, " the impious production of an over-heated 
" mind 5" and he further told them, on his oath, that " these 
" latter words express what he thinks of it." — (Lords, p. 247.) 



590 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



" whether these prophesies have been circulated ex- 
" tensively among the peasantry of Ireland— that 
" indeed he has little doubt, that there may 
" have been an extract of that kind printed and 
" circulated— but that at the same time he is 
" very confident, that, if done, it has been done 
" lately, in the South, to produce appearances of 
" disturbance."* 

2. I proceed to another specimen. It shall be 
Dr. Doyle's statement of his opinion of the ge- 
neral benefits which would be produced in Ire- 
land by what is called by the Committee of the 
Commons " Catholic Emancipation," by the 
Lords " the admission of the Catholics to equal 
" rights and privileges." I will take his answer 

* Dr. Doyle in his "Essay," (p. 197, 198.) ascribes the cir- 
culation of the prophesies to Orangemen : he adds, " Major 
" Warburton, who supplied a copy of them to the House of 
" Commons in 1824, admits in his re-examination on the 21st 
" of June, 1825, that these prophesies, though found in abund- 
" ance even amongst the police, were not circulated by Catholics." 
This is like so many other of Dr. Doyle's assertions : what Ma- 
jor Warburton really said is as follows : — Q. " The reports (of 
" disturbances) to which you have alluded, were reports of the 
" intended rising of the Catholics, encouraged by the prophe- 
" sies of Pastorini ; by whom were such reports circulated?" 
A. "Upon my word I never could trace by whom." Q. "Do 
" you apprehend they (i. e. the reports) were circulated by the 
" Catholics ?" A. "Indeed I do not suppose they were." It 
would have been strange if they had been. 



ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 



591 



before the Lords, because it was given last, and 
given upon oath, and must therefore be reason- 
ably considered as expressing his genuine and 
deliberate judgment. It is as follows : — 

" I think that the general benefits produced 
" by it would be incalculable. lam quite confi- 
" dent it would put an end to those religious heats and 
" animosities which now prevail so generally. I 
" am also of opinion it would tranquillize the public 
" mind effectually, and make us all sit down quietly 
" to promote our local and general interests. I 
" also think," &c. " In fact, I think it would knit 
" together, and effectually secure the affections of 
" the multitude as well as of individuals, and make 
" us one people immediately, and I hope in a 
" few years a very happy and prosperous people. 
" Those are my views, such as I entertain them in 
i( the presence of God and your Lordships,''' 8$c. 

Considering the main subject which was then 
occupying the attention of Parliament, and the 
bill which was already introduced, or was 
known to be about to be introduced, into the 
Lower House, nothing could be said by Dr. 
Doyle more satisfactory, or more striking. The 
whole weight of his authority, we see, (and his 
authority had much apparently to recommend 
it,) is given in favour of the great political mea - 
sure then in progress. That measure was not 



592 



DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



only a good one, in his judgment, but seemingly 
the very best: it could not fail to attain its ob- 
ject — which object was no less than the imme- 
diate and perfect pacification of Ireland. 

To such an authority I will not presume to 
oppose any opinion of my own ; but I have an 
authority of no light weight to place in the con- 
trary scale. In short, to the judgment of Dr. 
Doyle, on 2 1st of March, 1825, I have to op- 
pose the judgment of Dr. Doyle on 13th of May, 
1824. 

That prelate, in a letter of his of the last 
mentioned date to A. Robertson, Esq. M.P* ex- 
presses himself as so much delighted with cer- 
tain sentiments reported to have been delivered 
by Mr. Robertson in the House of Commons, on 
the motion of Air. Hume, relative to the Church 
Establishment in Ireland, that he could not, 
though a stranger, forbear addressing him, and 
communicating his entire accordance of opinion, 
" that the best, if not the only, effectual mode of pa- 
- " cifying Ireland, improving the condition of her 
" people, and consolidating the interests of the 
" empire, would be found in a union of the 
" Churches which distract and divide us" 

" The whole frame of society amongst us," 
says he, " is disorganized." " This state of the 
" public mind and feeling is unquestionably 



ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 



593 



" produced by the inequality of the laws, and 
" still more immediately by the incessant collision 
" and conflict of religious opinions." 

A highly-coloured and awful picture is then 
drawn of the dangers and distractions of his 
unhappy country, one particular of which has 
such immediate connexion with our present 
subject, that I must not omit it. " The Catholic 
" aristocracy, as they are called, since the penal 
" laws were relaxed, have gradually withdrawn 
" themselves from the people ; they have shewn, 
" on some occasions, an overweening anxiety for 
4< emancipation, at the expense of what the priest- 
<4 hood and the other classes deemed the interests, if 
" not the principles, of their religion ; hence they 
" are looked on with suspicion, and can no longer 
" wield the public mind." 

44 In such a state of things it behoves Parlia- 
" ment,"' &c. " and I have little doubt, if your 
" sentiments were adopted by it, but that 
44 Ireland could be tranquillized, the union of 
44 the countries cemented, peace and prosperity 
44 diffused, and the empire rendered invulnera- 
" ble." 

" These results cannot be attained by Catholic Emancipation 
«' alone." " Catholic Emancipation will not remedy the evils of 

the Tithe system : it will not allay the fervour of religious 
" zeal— the perpetual clashing of two Churches, one elevated, 



594 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



" the other fallen, both high-minded, perhaps intolerant: it 
" will not check the rancorous animosities with which different 
" sects assail each other: it will not remove all suspicion of par- 
** tiality in the government, were Antoninus himself the Vice- 
" roy : it will not create that sympathy between the different 
" orders in the State, which is ever mainly dependent on religion, 
" nor produce that unlimited confidence between man and man, 
" which is the strongest foundation on which public welfare 
" can repose, as well as the most certain pledge of a nation's 
" prosperity. Withal, Catholic Emancipation is a great pub- 
" lie measure, and of itself not only would effect much, but 
u open a passage to ulterior measures, which a provident le- 
" gislature could without difficulty effect. The union of the 
" Churches, however, which you have had the singular merit of 
" suggesting to the Commons of the United Kingdom, would 
" together and at once effect a total change in the dispositions of 
". men : it would bring all classes to co-operate zealously in 
" promoting the prosperity of Ireland, and in securing her alle- 
{' giance for ever to the British Throne. The question of 
" Emancipation would be swallowed up in the great inquiry, how 
" Ireland could be enriched and strengthened." 

3. The proverb intimates, that it is hard to 
decide when doctors disagree; but when one 
Doctor is thus at variance with himself, the dif- 
ficulty is much lighter. In the present case, 
men of plain understanding will reject both Dr. 
Doyle's prescriptions. Will it be said, that one 
of them can be more easily taken than the other? 
— that his last nostrum, Emancipation, is really 
within the competence of parliament to effect; 
whereas the union of churches is what the most 



ON PROPOSED UNION OF THE CHURCHES. 595 

skilful compounder of politics and polemics 
would attempt in vain ? No. The Doctor has 
an answer ready: " This Union, on which so 
" much depends, is not so difficult, as appears 
" to many. It is not difficult ; for in certain 
" discussions and correspondence, in the last 
" century, it appeared that the points of agree- 
" ment between the churches are numerous, 
" and the failure was owing more to Princes 
" than to Priests, — more to state-policy than to 
" a difference of belief. But the present time 
" is," he assures us, " peculiarly well calculated 
" for attempting it. For what interest can 
" England noiv have which is opposed to such 
" an Union, and what nation or church in the 
" universe can have stronger motives for de- 
" siring it than Great Britain, if by it she could 
" preserve her Church Establishment, perfect her 
." internal polity, and secure her external do- 
" minion ?" 

Now all this is very promising, and the 
reasons he gives for calling " the time favour- 
" able," are the most satisfactory imaginable. I 
have not room for all of them; but two or three 
must have a place: " The Irish Catholics/' he 
says, " are wearied and fatigued; exceedingly 
" desirous of repose; the Established Religion is 
V almost frittered away;' but lastly, and princi- 



596 DR. DOYLES CONTRADICTION OF HIMSELFr 



pally, he depends on " the improvement of 
ff men s minds during the last century, the light 
" and liberality which distinguish the present." 

These are the facilities which the present 
time affords for that " Union of the Churches of 
" England and Rome, under which a new aera 
" of happiness would commence in our history." 

So glowing a picture who can contemplate 
without delight? even if it were incapable of 
being ever completely realized, who would mar 
it with the rude brush of truth, and tell us that 
the whole is, and must ever continue to be, 
mere fiction? No one, certainly, but the inge- 
nious artist himself; and he has not scrupled 
to laugh outright at all who can be such fools, 
as to believe a single word of all that he has 
been saying. 

" Do not, my dear brethren/' — it is part of Dr. Doyle's 
Pastoral Address of 1822,* — " do not, my dear brethren, be so 
" silly as to expect, that even if those, who differ from you in 
" religious belief in this country, were to change their creed, 
" they would embrace yours ; far from it ; they would, for 
" the greater part, cease to be Christians, or form a religion 
" for themselves ; it is not consistent with the nature of man, 
ts nor with the ordinary providence of God, that a body of 
i( men, like our dissenting brethren, who have been separated 
" from the Church so long, and accustomed each of them to 
" judge for himself, in all matters human and divine, should 
" again subject themselves to the yoke of authority and capti- 
* Commons, p. 670. 



DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 



597 



<( vate their understanding to the obedience of faith j indivi- 
" duals might do so ; whole classes might do so j but neither 
'* the power of the state, nor the force of law, nor the terror of 
" death; nothing short of miracle, greater than any hitherto re- 
" corded, could produce uniformity of religion in England or 
" here." 

4. My next illustration of Dr. Doyle's figu- 
rative mode of speaking shall be found in his 
answer to the following question from the Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons. — p. 216. 

"Do you hold the same opinion, with respect to the elective 
" franchise, and the effect of attempts to disfranchise the forty 
" shilling freeholders, which are held by the author of the 
" letters of I. K. L. ?" A. " Upon that subject, as I happen 
" to be an ecclesiastic, if the Committee would indulge me by 
" permitting me not to express an opinion, they would favour 
" me much. In this place I would wish that any testimony I 
" am called upon to give should not be of a political kind ; for 
" if ever I took a part in political discussions, it was with great 
" reluctance, and only until the difficulties under which the 
" country laboured enabled me to return to that privacy in 
(< which I always wish to live. To give an opinion as to the 
" forty shilling freeholders would be rather a political one, than 
" one connected with religion ; therefore if the Committee 
" will indulge me in my own inclination, I should much rather 
" not give an opinion ; merely for this reason, that it is a political 
" question, and that I am an ecclesiastic." 

That the Committee was pleased to acquiesce 
in this answer, is only one of the many proofs 
of their courtesy to this favoured and merito- 
rious witness. I hope it will be deemed no 



598 



DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 



breach of privilege, if I presume to shew how 
much their favour was merited by him in this 
instance. 

But, first, I must express my unfeigned admi- 
ration of the gravity of himself and his hearers, 
when he thus proclaimed the great reluctance 
with which he ever takes a part in political 
discussions. Why, there is scarcely a person 
in all Ireland so prominent or notorious on such 
occasions. It was but a few days before he set 
sail from that country, to give evidence before 
the Committee, that he published the last of 
the Letters of I. K. L. ; and of those Letters 
there is scarcely a page which does not teem 
with political matter of the most virulent and 
inflammatory kind : # and yet after a forbearance, 

* Let me give a specimen or two : " A police bill, and a 
ei tithe-composition bill, and fifty thousand bayonets may 
<c repress disturbances, but who can contemplate a brave and 
" generous people so abused ? Who can dwell in a country so 
t( accursed? What man can appear before his God who has looked 
" patiently at such wrong, or who has not contributed by every 
" legal means to relieve his fellow-creatures from sufferings so 
" intense?" p. 49. Again: " Reject them, insult them, con- 
" tinue to deprive them of hope, and they will league with 
" Beelzebub against you. Revenge is sweet, and the pride of 
" a nation is like the vanity of a woman, when wounded it is 
" relentless. They will repeal the Union. Yes, undoubtedly. 
" The present generation will not pass, if you continue the old 
" system, until you will find the cry for emancipation turned 



DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 



599 



which could hardly have lasted longer than the 
time it took him to make his passage — after this 
totum triduum -he has the confidence to tell a 
Committee of the English House of Commons, 
that he hates politics, and is the most peaceable 
man living. Nay, when he ventures to express 
his wish that any testimony he may be called 
upon to give in that place " should not be of a 
" political kind," both he and they well knew 
that he had, the very instant before, given them 
his opinion, at length, on the great political 
question of Catholic Emancipation. 

" into a clamorous demand for that very measure. Irishmen were 
" before united in seeking to make this country independent ; 
" the embassy to the French Directory consisted not of Catho- 
" lies but of Irishmen. They may unite again. The mighty 
" body of Catholics, growing, as it is, in size and strength, 
<c will, like all large bodies, attract smaller ones to it ; the fury 
" of fanaticism may subside, and you will be amazed in a few 
" years at the coalition of interests in Ireland. If this power 
" which exists at present, and which will go on increasing, be 
" left conflicting with the power of the state, it will compel you 
Ci to kiss the feet of France, or wage against her the most dan- 
(C gerous war in which England has ever been engaged." p. 285. 
Once more : te How often have I perceived in a congregation of 
" some thousand persons, how the very mention, from my own 
" tongue, of the penal code caused every eye to glisten, and every 
" ear to stand erect ; the trumpet of the last judgment, if sounded, 
" would not produce a more perfect stillness in any assemblage of 
" Irish peasantry, than a strong allusion to the wrongs we suffer." 
p. 287. 



60Q IRISH FORTY SHILLING FREEHOLDERS. 



But no more of this. — Let us look to the subject 
of the forty shilling freeholders, and his recorded 
opinions thereupon. In order that they may be 
duly appreciated, it is necessary to premise 
a brief statement of the grounds of the measure 
itself, which I shall do in the words of a country- 
man of his own. 

" As soon as the Irish Act of 1793 conferred the elective 
" franchise on Roman Catholic freeholders of all descriptions, 
" the nobility and gentry seised of estates, (though a vast 
" majority of them were Protestants,) yet vyeing with each 
" other in electioneering interest, and the representation in 
" Parliament depending on popular elections, began to convert 
" the chattel interests of their peasantry (Roman Catholic as 
lt as well as Protestant) into freehold. Since that period the 
ee manufacture of freeholders has thriven in so great a degree, 
" that some counties, which previously did not contain more 
" than eleven hundred freeholders, have now more than eleven 
" thousand. The process of the manufacture is as follows : 
*' the nobleman or gentleman seised of an estate, demises it in 
" parcels to farmers for one life, or more j the farmer demises 
" one acre of his farm, or less, to each of his labourers for life. 
" The labourer erects a wretched habitation (in Ireland called a 
" cabin) on it, in which he and his poor family reside. This 
ie holding he registers as his freehold, and swears it to be worth 
" forty shillings a year over and above the rent he is bound to 
" pay for it. This rent he is obliged to satisfy by working as a 
" labourer for his lessor, Such is the general description of 
" forty shilling freeholders in Ireland. Of this class the great 
" majority are Roman Catholics ; and such freeholders exceed 
e< all other freeholders in the proportion of Jive to one, or in a 
<f greater proportion. Thus the Roman Catholics have now the 



IRISH FORTY SHILLING FREEHOLDERS. 601 



ce return of the majority of the Irish representation in their 
" power. 

" By the grant of the elective franchise to Irish Romanists, 
" and by the reforming spirit of the Union, the greater part of 
" the Irish representation has been transferred from the opulent 
(t to the indigent — from those who are attached to the British 
ci Constitution by religious principle, to those whose religious 
f< principles are opposed to its letter and its spirit : and (con- 
" sidering the overruling power of their religious system 
" amongst the Irish Romanists) the return of the majority 
" of the representation is now in the romish hierarchy 
" and Clergy." 

Such is the present state of the law of elec- 
tion in Ireland. 

The legislative measure on which Dr. Doyle's 
opinion was (as has been seen) asked and 
refused, did not go to disfranchise the real bona 
fide holder of a freehold in fee, but only to sup- 
press this manufacture of fraudulent votes; and 
it had received the approbation of Dr. Doyle's 
political friends and associates ; one cause pro- 
bably of his reluctance to avow before the 
Committee his own recorded opinion against it. 

But that opinion itself was given after a state- 
ment of the most extraordinary kind ; I will 
present it to my readers in Dr. Doyle's own 
words. 

" Many of our laws are, in the abstract, perfectly wise and 
" equitable, but amongst us even the good laws in their opera- 
u tion work injustice." "The law of election, what does it 

R R 



602 



DR. DOYLE 



" bring to the Catholic r It he perchance be opulent, it brings 
" to him a deeper sense of his fallen honour, of his degradation, 
" of his shame ; if he be very poor, it brings him to the hus- 
" tings to proclaim to the world a public lie, to wit, that he is 
" a freeholder : having first steeped his soul in perjury, lest he, 
" and his wife, and his child, and his father, should be driven 
" from their hut, without food, shelter, or hope. To him the 
" election law, in its operation, is like the wind from the desert, 
" bringing with it a sort of moral pestilence, against which no 
" human remedy can avail." — p. 87.* 

Dr. Doyle is a Christian, a minister of the 
Gospel, a bishop in the Church of Christ. 
What, then, must the man, who bears so 
high and sacred a function, say and feel of a 
proposed law, whose object is, without en- 
trenching on the rights of the real freeholder, 
to put an end at once to a system so pregnant 
with sin and crime ? Must he not hail it with 
delight and transport? Not so Dr. Doyle: — 
in the very same volume, we read, with 
astonishment, which all that we have before 
seen and heard of this prelate can hardly dimi- 
nish, the following portentous sentence; " If 
" there be one measure more than another calcu- 
" lated to seal the doom of Ireland, to eradicate from 
66 her soil the very seeds of freedom, and to ensure 

* He elsewhere speaks of the same law as " sometimes exposing 
a the people to the moral necessity of committing perjury in order 
" to retain possession of what they call their freehold." — p. 359. 



ON THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. G03 



"for ever her degradation, that measure is, in my 
" opinion, the disfranchisement of the forty shil- 
" ling freeholders."' — (p. 205.) Well might Dr. 
Doyle deprecate the necessity of repeating or 
avowing before an assembly of English Chris- 
tians such an opinion on such a case ! 

But I am tired of Dr. Doyle — I will refer 
to only one particular more of him, and will 
then have done.* 

5. He is asked by the Committees both of 
Commons and of Lords, " whether he holds the 

* Yet the following is too curious to be omitted : in answer 
to a question from the Committee of Commons, p. 216, Dr. 
Doyle says, " I have never discerned in any class, or in any indi- 
" vidual, of the Catholic religion, either clergy or laity, I might 
" say, any disposition hostile to the Protestant established religion 
For an illustration of the truth of this assertion, I refer to the 
Letters of I. K. L. passim, and to the following extract from 
Dr. Doyle's Letter to Mr. Robertson, p. 3 : " The Ministers of 
" the Establishment, as it exists at present, are, and will be, 
" detested by those who differ from them ; and the more their 
" residence is enforced, and their number multiplied, the more 
" odious they will become." 

Dr. Doyle is not the only person who makes a favourable 
report to the House of Commons of the disposition of the 
people of his communion towards the Established Church. In 
the year 1821 Mr. Plunket (a name to which I certainly would 
not do the injustice of coupling it with Dr. Doyle's generally) 
said, and said, I doubt not, as he believed : " On the part of 
te the Roman Catholics I will be bold to say, that they harbour no 
" principle of hostility to our Establishment ." 

K R 2 



604 



DR. DOYLE 



" opinions with respect to the Established 
" Church, which are maintained in the letters of 
" I. K. L." his own notorious work ? His an- 
swer I will take, as it is given before the Lords, 
because he there spoke under the solemn sanc- 
tion of an oath. 

" The opinions which I entertain with regard to the Esta- 
<e blishraent are these ; and as the letters alluded to are many, 
" and they may contain opinions which might be misunder- 
" stood, I think it better to make myself responsible for the an- 
ie swer I here give, than for what is found written in those 
" letters. The Established Church in Ireland I look at in two 
" lights : as a Christian community, and as a corporation en- 
" joying vast temporal possessions. As a Christian Church, 
" consisting of a hierarchy, and professing the doctrine of the 
" Gospel, / respect and esteem it more than any other church in 
" the universe separated from the See of Rome : but I do un- 
" questionably think, that the amount of property enjoyed by 
l< the ministers of that Church is prejudicial to the interests of 
<( the established religion in Ireland, as well as to the interests 
" of the country. I have, therefore, given to your Lordships my 
" feelings and opinions in those words most explicitly ; and I be- 
" lieve that they are the same in substance as those expressed in 
" the letters alluded to, if those letters be understood in the 
" sense, in which I understand them myself." — Lords, p. 234. 

Here, then, he declares upon his oath, that, 
although he thinks the Church of Ireland too 
richly endowed for its own interests, and for 
the interests of the country, yet he has a 
higher respect, and esteem, for it, as a Chris- 



ON THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 



605 



tian Church, than for any other church in the 
universe separated from the See of Rome. 

This he gives, I say, upon his oath, as a sum- 
mary of his own feelings and opinions most 
explicitly stated, and of those which are express- 
ed in the letters of I. K. L. 

I shall now beg leave to make some extracts 
from these letters, to illustrate the accuracy of 
this sworn testimony. 

Once, and I believe, only once, he is pleased 
to admit that the Church is better than the 
Conventicle, and he does so in the following 
flattering expression of his " respect and es- 
teem for it :" — ■ 

" The Establishment has brought back from the Conventicle 
" many a strayed sheep. This should be, to every person who 
" wishes well to society, a subject of congratulation, as it is 
" painful and humiliating to see our fellow-creatures so bewil- 
" dered, as to exchange any regular form of worship, however 
" imperfect, for the ravings of their own fancy, or the wild and 
" fantastical canting of some self-sanctioned enthusiast." — p. 
67. 

While, however, he thus expresses his sense 
of the superiority of the Church over wild en- 
thusiasts, he takes care not to give it any pre- 
ference over Presbyterians. So far from it, in- 
deed, that he nowhere speaks so respectfully of 
the former, as he does, in the following sentence, 
of the latter : — 



606 



DR. DOYLE's 



" Of the state of religion amongst the Presbyterians I know 
" but little, and I regret that I have not had more opportunities 
" of making myself acquainted with the principles and practice 
" of that respectable people, as well as with the character of 
" their clergy." (p. 66.) 

We have seen I. K. L.'s strongest expressions 
of respect for the Established Church ; let us 
now look to the other side. At page 61 he ex- 
pressly says, that " the Catholics deem the 
" altar of that Church profane." At page 329, 
its clergy are spoken of, as not being really 
clergy — they are " Clergymen ( so called.)" At 
page 69 we read what follows : — 

(C The Church in Ireland was always looked on, not as the 
" Spouse of the Redeemer, but as the handmaid of the ascen- 
" dancy." " Whenever she became insolent, or forgot her 
<e rank, (if rank it could be called) she was rebuked into a de- 
ee portment becoming her situation." " When indulged, she is 
" insolent ; when rebuked, she becomes attentive ; she draws 
i( tight, or relaxes her discipline, as it may please, or be per- 
" mitted by her masters ; her eye is ever fixed upon her own 
** interests, and she deems nothing forbidden or unhallowed, which 
" can serve to promote them. As those who do an injury never 
" can forgive, she is implacable in her hostility to the Church 
" which she supplanted ; and at this day she appears indifferent 
" to all things else, but to the concealment of her riches, and the 
<e persecution of' Popery. !' (He has elsewhere said, "theEsta- 
" blished Church would ally itself with the priests of Baal,* 

* This is comparatively a more respectable alliance, than may at first 
appear. I. K. L. sa\ s of tl.e Irish Roman-Catholics (as we have already 
seen) that if the Legislature continues to insult them, they will league with 
Beelzebub against us. (p. 285.) 



GROSS INCONSI STE i\ C 1 E S . 



007 



''against those whom it has supplanted." — p. 153.) "She 
" occasionally revolts against her fellow-servants," (who arc 
they ?) "who lay bare her spoils, who tell of her frauds and 
" oppressions, who remind her of her origin, and upbraid her 
" with the profligacy of her misspent life." '*■ Her Creed is no 
" longer the creed of a great proportion of those who fill her 
pulpits, or who bend before her altars.' 1 (p. 68.) " On the 
" whole it appears to me, that religion at present in the Established 
" Church is rather excited by the spirit of party, than the Spirit 
" of the Gospel; that she has been awakened rather by the 
" sounds of discord, than by the voice of peace." (p. 79.) 

It is thus, that the Letters of I. K. L. make 
good the sworn attestation of our Right Reverend 
witness. Yet this is Dr. Doyle ! this is, or lately 
was, (for these glories are not often very long- 
lived,) the idol of the liberal party in our Eng- 
lish House of Commons! one, whom statesmen 
have not scrupled to laud in good set sentences, 
as a paragon of talent, and the very mirror of 
honesty ! 

In exhibiting him in his real colours, in hold- 
ing him forth in his own recorded words and 
sentiments, to the indignation of every man to 
whom truth and plain dealing are not empty 
names, I have performed a duty painful and 
disgusting to my own feelings; a duty, by the 
discharge of which I may perhaps draw down 
upon myself the ribaldry of Scotch critics, the 
revilings of Irish orators, the sneers of English 



608 



liberals, and the half-vented rebukes of the 
friends of conciliation. Be it so ! from all these 
censors I appeal to the unbiassed judgment and 
honest sympathy of the British people : and if 
my cause be as good, as my own conscience 
tells me that it is, to that tribunal I shall not 
appeal in vain. 



Henry Phillpotts. 



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